Ratchet And Sonic: Searching For Hope
by Ben10extreme
Summary: Starts in the middle of "A Crack in Time". After Training with Alister Azimuth, Ratchet finds a strange person right in front of him who will undeniably be a huge factor in his search for Clank. Sonic. But...is there a reason why he found him? Or why he was so close to death? Tragic Sonic Timeline. Deleted on accident. My bad!
1. Ratchet, Meet Sonic

**Hey! So I'm starting up a Ratchet and Clank/Sonic the Hedgehog Crossover event. Playing the latest game, "Into the Nexus" gave me this idea. But it starts not too far from the beginning of "A Crack In Time" and will continue on, with some extras. This will have my own storylines, I swear it. You guys gonna see the movie? If you don't already know that, they TOTALLY are!**_  
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**Enough of me,let's get on with it! _I do not own the Ratchet and Clank series OR Sonic the Hedgehog. At ALL! _**

* * *

The figure landed right on his feet, withe extreme style and(some) balance. Another one landed perfectly with both style and balance. One was elder to the other. The younger one...was exhausted. One was white with red stripes, the other was orange, with slighty brighter red stripes, lion like tails, cat ears. Both had some gear on, including hoverboots. Lombaxes, right?

"Ha...how about that? What...whew...what do you think?" said the shorter one. Responsible for saving the universe multiple times, this is the lombax, Ratchet.

"Ha! Very good Ratchet! You learn a lot faster than I thought you would." the elder lombax said. This was General Alister Azimuth, exile, third lombax to be known in Ratchet's universe. The second was Angela Cross...no...no awkward moments right now.

"Alright, alright Ratchet, you can rest up for a bit." With relief, Ratchet sat down on a rock, panting. "Yeah...I'll take that offer." These two were on Torren IV in Molonoth Fields, training Ratchet with his fathers old hoverboots. Went pretty well so far. There was also talk of Ratchet's father Kaden theorized the exsistence of "The Great Clock" Good, interesting talk. The two kinda bonded, somewhat.

"Alright General...now that I have that done...what should we do now? Find Nefarious? Storm into his stronghold? Force him to tell us where the Clock is?!" Nefarious. Evil robot dude. Defeated multiple times. Robot butler named Lawerence...the usual.

"No. Nefarious may be...confusing at times...but he isn't foolish enough to tell us where it is, no matter what we do to him." Alister went on. "However...now we have an advantage that I didn't have before...a contact inside the Clock."

"Wait...you mean Clank?" Clank, been best buds with Ratchet for years, saving the universe together multiple times. Recently disappeared when creatures known as the Zoni(guardians of time) took him away at a random notion. Now we know where he is. How to get to him...thats the other part they need to figure out.

"Uh...General? My ship's _this _way?"

"No thanks. I brought my own." After a few short moments, Alister's ship came from under the platform, hovering in the sky. He then proceeded to hop into it. "Meet me back at Axiom City! On Terachnos!"

"What are we looking for on Terachnos?"

"A way to talk to Clank!" With that, Alister flew off towards the skies, leaving Ratchet behind. Although he now sort of understood what they were looking for and why,one thing was on his mind.

_His ship is FAR cooler looking than mine...I gotta fix that. No...focus Ratchet...Clank comes first...besides...Aphelion is good enough as she is. Okay...going now._

* * *

After retrying the hoverboot obstacle course to get the hang of it, he mde his way back to Aphelion. But not before chasing down a Zoni and gently catching it. He caught it right next to his ship. How about that. He then took out his Zoni Collector.

"I was the fabrics of space, and got lost here. Thank you strange hero."

"Not a problem. Now let me just eaaasse you into the Collector for safe keeping..." Before that, something made the Zoni quite uneasy. "What? I'm not gonna hurt ya. Honest."

"No...it is not that. Something has happened. A tear through dimensions...time has a role in this." Ratchet=? "Uhh...mind running through that again? Less...riddle...wise-like?" Zoni just merely pointed to a random direction on the ground. "There...I sense it there..."

On cue, a blue flash of light appeared right in front of him, startling him. "Its those time break beam...things again. But...whats with this one? Instead of a random point...its focused on this spot..." After a few more moments, something emerged from the light. It landed on the ground, startling Ratchet again.

"Ooookay...that hasn't happened yet. Other than that...lets survey the situation here." _Alright...never seen his species before, lets see...blue fur...spikes on the back of his head...white gloves...red shoes with a yellow buckle on each...slowly bleeding out...pointy ears... _"CRAP! HE'S BLEEDING! ALL OVER!"

Ratchet quickly went for the figure, and picked him up, putting one arm over his shoulder. "Can't fix him up with the possiblity of bandits lurking around, and dangerous robots. Aphelion! Take us back to Alister Azimuth's hideout! I have an injured guy right here!"

"Right away Ratchet." He carefully eased the figure into the ship, and made course to fly back to the hideout. _I want to leave for Axiom City as quickIy as I can...but I can't ignore this. Get him patched up, and have him tell me what happened to him..._

* * *

_**A few hours later...**  
_

Mystery figure slowly opened his eyes to the light. He would have sat up, but when he tried, he found himself unable to do so, his sleep still had him slightly immobile. _What...where am I? _

"Yeah...Talwyn? Its Ratchet." He slowly turned his head to the other figure, who seems to be talking to his watch, watching him pace back and forth. "Just checking in with you on some things."

"Glad to see that you're still in one piece Ratchet. But...isn't Qwark with you?" "Na. He got himzelf captured by some dude named Lord Vorselon. But I managed to get rescue him, and the Fongoids from his clutches, so its all good." He decided to hold out on Alister until further notice. "Anyway, I've just figured out a way to find Clank, AND stop Nefarious. Win-win."

"Really? Wow thats amazing! You finally have a true idea on why this is happening! But...there is another reason why you're checking in with me, isn't there?" Ratchet takes a look back at the figure, then back at Talwyn on his watch.

"Yeah...seems I've found an injured guy while I was collecting Zoni. He was really hurt...maybe would have died if I didn't find him." "And? You save lives all the time Ratchet, this shouldn't be new to you." "I know but...okay. There are tiny breaks in the time-space whatever, appearing on different planets, freezing things in place, right? So far I've seen people and enemies caught in the blasts. But this guy came OUT of one, right after it appeared in front of me." He turned to the guy, now whispering. "I gotta go Tal, he's awake." He hung up, and turned to him.

"Hey buddy...how's it goin'?" _Really Ratchet? Really? _The figure was finally able to sit up. "...hey." Silence. _Come on Ratchet! Stop being awkward! Talk to the guy! _"Hey uh...so...um...are you okay? You seemed a little hurt there for a sec." "I guess I'm alright..." _This isn't working. _"Yeah... anyway...do you have a name?"

The person tried to gather up his thoughts, but...it was all blank. _What? _ "My name? My name...uh...I...wha...what _is_ my name?" Ratchet sighed._That can only mean ONE thing... _"You can't remember a thing, can you?" "No. Not really." Ratchet sighed, a little deeper this time. _Great...now I have to be responsible for him. I didn't even leave the planet yet. Well...knowing your hero side...you can't just leave him here..._

"Well...since you have no memory of yourself...and I have somewhere to be...you...I dunno...want to come with me? To another planet?" Confusing, yes. "What? Why help me? You don't even know me...or at least I think you don't..." "Dude. I don't need a reason to help someone, I just do it. Now...are you gonna come with?" Not really having any other choice that may have good results, he decided. "If you are truly gonna help me...then I guess I can tag along."

Ratchet smiled, helping the person up, and he felt no pain. "What? I'm...i'm all better?" "Nanotech bro. Never failed me before, its not gonna fail me now." With that, Ratchet led him to his ship, easing him to the passenger seat. "One more thing, I can't just keep calling you "guy", so...I'm just gonna call you Blue. What do you think?" He merely looked at Ratchet blankly. "Hey, if you have a better name for yourself until further notice, i'd like to hear it." Silence. "Blue it is! Now, off to Axiom City!" _How should I explain this to Azimuth?_

* * *

**Afterwards...**

"Are you serious? An Obsidian Eye? ...Actually...that makes sense..." Ratchet managed to have Aphelion take Blue to a safe place shile he went to find Azimuth. So far cutting through an abnormally large plaza just to get to a factorh seemed extremely overdone. But...he managed it. Or at least he thought so.

Making it inside Pollyx Industries was slightly easier than he thought it would be, due to one by the name of Jarvis helping them through the plaza. Thank the power of favors. Yet, defenses lowered, didn't make it easy to actually get through the building with so many drones and traps.

"Constructo Pistol...aim Ratchet...aim..." In rapid succession, he fired twenty shots, and 19 drones went down. "Okay, that was pretty good. Azimuth, can you move forward?" He already took out drones with just his double-edged Omni-Wrench.

"Hey...uh...do you mind if I can use that Omni-Wrench sometime?" "Sorry, its been crafted to only my use." Sighing about this, they cautiously continued on. Every thing that looked hostile, Ratchet shot down or Azimuth stealth killed.

"Ratchet...you've grown used to battle, I can tell. What do you think it means if yhere are very few hostiles to be seen?" "Let's see...since secruity doesn't suck around here...they are probably preparing something. Happens a lot." They appeared to a bolted door, and Ratchet blew it apart with a Constructo Bomb. "Never forget the classics...the classics can save your life just as much as the modern. True story."

Azimuth went to another door, which looked unguarded. "Doors that are unprotected probably have something right behind it. Important...but we're not on the top floor." "I got this, General." Ratchet went up to the door, and slowly opened it. There didn' t seem to be anything. "Well, nothing here. So lets just-GAH!" There was a drone behind the door all along, it had two sawblades, which are currently fighting with Ratchets Omni-Wrench. Alister shot a electric blast at it, with his wrench, destroying it quickly.

Ratchet was on the ground, panting. "I hate jump-scares...robot jump scares...you don't see it coming..." He held up a hand, propping himself up with his wrench. "I'm good though. I'm good." After this, they went forward, Alister scouting ahead.

"Secruity is getting a bit tighter...that means we're getting closer. Must be." Just to be safe, he fired another pulse of energy, and he could hear it blowing up a few bots. "Alright Ratchet, let's go." Ratchet then proceeded to follow him, weary of other dangers the other could possibly miss. "What about those Hypersonic Brainwave Scramblers? You'd think they'd have one of those, just to mess with you."

"Ratchet. Whether your a Zoni or not, those things can be dangerous. Lets be lucky we don't run into a group of them." They stopped right at a bridge. They were sure what was on the other side. "Now all we need to do is-"

At the moment, many smaller bots, and ten bots even bigger than those bots, surrounded the duo, swarming them almost. Ratchet resisted the urge to facepalm. "And I forget to follow one of the most important rules of infiltration...don't jinx a situation." They were surrounded, there was no other choice but to fight them.

But then, before they could, something filled the air. Ratchet felt it. _ Is it drafty in here? What is that? _At that moment, something blue swiftly passed by every one of the small bots, eventually exploding a few seconds after. _What was that?! Another enemy?! _The blue light then destroyed six of the ten larger looking bots.

Not wasting time, Ratchet brought out the Negotiator, and fired a rocket at the remaining four, destroying them instantly. Ratchet and Alister stood in shock at what just went down. "Okay...again...what was that?!" The light then came to a stop in front of the duo, and showed his face. Ratchet was left speechless. "Blue?"

"Thats right. Although, I took a little walk around town, and I remember that that isn't my name. I figured it out. But we don't have time for that do we?" He was referring to Azimuth. "R-right, of course! The Obsidian Eye and its location, we'll find these out here!" He broke the glass, and all three jumped through it.

Alister made his was to the computer at the very center. "Blue" looked around the room at the Terachnoids, sighing. "You guys...are boring."

"It seems the Obsidian Eye is somewhere in Krell Canyon. Ugh, I can't lock on any closer." Just at that, the big screen went static and, hey look its Dr. Nefarious...huh.

"Greetings, my old friend! Good to see you again. Glad you're here, so that you may witness my GREATEST triumph!" "Blue's" thoughts= _He has a REALLY annoying voice..._

"Oh look! You've met the elder. Pity that the first lombax you meet...is the shame of his entire race!" (Looks at "Blue") "Well well! You've made a new friend! Mind telling me about him?"

"Blue" scoffed. "Well first off, I can see that I'm way more better looking than you." The doctor only sighed. _Great...a wiseguy...now I hate him already._

Back to Ratchet. "So...what is it this time Nefarious? You trying to turn everyone into robots again? Or is it good old fashioned Galactic Domination?" Something about the first thing was making Blue very uneasy, but he kept calm.

"One part of me wants to let you live long enough to find out. The other part REALLY wants to kill you." Blue raised a hand. "Does another part ever tell you that you need a better look? Such as...I dunno...that face? Or maybe those gears literally turning in your head?" Ratchet was snickering. "I like you already."

"Bah! Whatever. By the way, I left you three a little present on your way out. Enjoy it. Its a real BLAST!" At that moment, he checked out, and at another moment, something rumbled on the outside.

_"Warning. VX-99 detected. Evacuate all stations." _

"Well...thats explains what it was." With this the three quickly made their way outside through a vent. When they get there, they see the so callrf VX-99, shooting lasers and firing missiles.

"That thing will level the entire city just to get to us! We have to take it out! Boys, I'll cover you from the air! You just need to stall it!"

"Stall it?!" (Blue)

"That thing is a building with legs!" (Ratchet) Not really listening to those parts, Alister was off, leaving the two for themselves. "How do I get myself in these situations?"

"Isn't the more important question, how to get out of it?"

"Good point. What should we do?"

"Guess we just fend off these bots and wait for Alisters signal." Not a very complicated plan, that unfortunately didn't make it sound easier. "Ha...he's the general."

With that, Ratchet fended off as many bots as be could with his Telsa Coils, leaving them to be shocked multiple times. As that was happening, Blue spinkicked every one that was sent into the air, not missing once. When the VX-99 finally got close, Alister shot at the large dome with his ship, making it immobile for a few moments, which gave Ratchet just enough time to break of all of its legs, using graviboots and his wrench, rendering it unable to move.

After that, Alister circled around to lead them right to the head of the robot, where force must be upon it.

"Ratchet! Shut down its dome, i'll cover you!" Blue shouted.

"Right!"

With that, the lombax made his way to each energy point that keeps the field up, while Blue used some sort of "spindashing" to keep away robots that tried to distract him. Same goes for the second, when Blue uses a powerful jump kick to knock one bot, making it tumble into all the others.

When the last field went down, one of the lasers it still had shot at Blue, which did not hit him, but was enough to send him backwards off the platform. "Blue!"

Luckliy Alister was yhere before Blue fell, he was fine. "Now Ratchet! Take the thing down!" With Ratchets Constructo Bombs and Alisters shooting, they destroyed the head, and swiftly left the scene while it quickly fell apart while it was on fire.

Alister dropped Blue and Ratchet off, and went about his way. "Nice work you two! Now all you need to do is grab whatever you need and head for Krell Canyon on Lumos! I'll see you there!"

With that, the two were alone, smiling and laughing. "Dude! That was awesome!"

"I know Ratchet! We totally took that thing down! Even though we almost died!"

"Yeah but that's the thrill of it! A thrill that I do not always enjoy...in fact I kinda wish it'd stop. But I know it won't, so why bother?" Silence. "Hey Blue, you were amazing back there. How'd you learn to fight like that?"

Blue turned his head. "I dunno. I guess I just went with instinct and charged right at them. I don't remember fighting like this though..." Ratchet was grateful either way, so he put his hand on his shoulder.

"Tell you what Blue. You can help me find my pal Clank, when we do get to the Great Clock. And while we do that, we can all search for clues to your memory. Who knows? Maybe the Clock can even view things from your past for you to see. Kill two birds with one stone!" Ratchet held his fist out, on feeling.

Blue was speechless. "You...would help me? When you also need as much help as I do?" "Like I said, we'd be helping each other out. Win-win. Except for the bad guys we cross that is. So...what do you say? Partners?"

Blue took a moment to take this in, and smiled. He fist-bumped with Ratchet, signifying the start of a new friendship. "By the way, you have a start. You remember your name right? What is it?"

"Heh. Names Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Ratchet smiles too. "Well then, its nice to have ya aboard, Sonic. Because calling you Blue was really not working." "Ha! I feel that!" "Yeah! Lets go! Off to Lumos, Krell Canyon!"

* * *

_While this was happening, a shadowy figure was watching them on a monitor from space, and a cloaked ship. No wonder Alister didn't see it. The robot was sent to spy on the heroes, and the figure got every piece of the footage._

_The robot then spoke through comm unit: "Doctor Eggman, we have the target sited. Requesting termination?" The shadowy figure was a fat man in a red labcoat, woth black boots, white gloves, black glasses, and what seems to be...a robotic left arm._

_"No need. Sonic is no longer much of a threat to me, not without his memory, which I call a stroke of luck. But keep your eye on them, both of them, just in case." "Yes Master." The man then sat in his chair, stroking his slightly grown mustache._

_Now Sonic...let's see what your quest with this..."Ratchet"...truly bring you...you've peaked my_ interest...

* * *

**How about that? Another Ratchet and Clank/Sonic the Hedgehog crossover for that section. If i'm mistaken, this will be the tenth story on the list. Yay!**

**So...how do you like it? Did you like it? Review, Follow, or Favorite so that I get the inspiration to continue! **

**This Chapter: "Ratchet, Meet Sonic"**

**Next Chapter: "Clank, Meet Tails" **

**Remember what I said above! Alright then, see you!**


	2. Clank, Meet Tails

**Two favorites and two follows...whoever read this and did those...thank you. At least someone knows that I try. Well enough of that, here's chapter two! **

**Disclaimer: _I own nothing! __  
_**

* * *

One robot lies on the ground, completely unconscious. It seems as if some sort of scuffle happened, and he lost. All alone in a seemingly empty room.

However, there was another one, floating over him. And after that, it swiftly started to fix up the robot, repairing any sort of damage it may have had. After (however long that may or may not have taken) the smaller one(Clank) opens his eyes at last, looking up to the floating big one.

"Hello!" Clank sat up quickly, both backing away from one another. "AH! I'm sorry! I was only trying to help! Huh...Back off! Don't make me use force! Huaaow..." Call him a bluff, you already know he's not a fighter.

Clank just innocently got up and picked up the screwdriver that was dropped. "Ah! Weapon!" Other not swiftly switched the screwdriver with a banana, leaving Clank slightly confused.

"Hm. You are the one who assisted me in my escape from Nefarious. What is your name?"

"My name? Oh of course! I am Sigma 0426A! But...you can call me Sigmund. I'm Junior Caretaker of The Great Clock!" Hmm...

"Forgive me. But...what is The Great Clock?" After that, some cuckoo bird sprung out of Sigmund's chest, and he popped it back in. "Oh dear! We're late! Come on, we don't have a lot of time! Well...figuratively speaking of course..."

Clank merely nods and follows Sigmund up a flight of stairs, taking a look around. "Do you have any clue as to what happened?" "I dunno. Things sorta calmed down when that doctor and butler guy threw you down the shute. Not a very pleasant bunch, are they?" "No. Not very pleasant at all."

Clank saw plenty of fountains around as he followed Sigmund. And he also concluded that this Great Clock was quite big. He came across a couple platforms to jump across, but something blasted two of them out of the air. "No! Stupid Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler! And people wonder why we keep this place a secret..."

Not a big problem for Clank, he just used his Heli-Pack to hover across. He made it all the way across, as Sigmund managed to get him to the next room. In here there were these pads on the floor. And...here's an unnecessarily long explanation of what these are:

"While you were unconscious I took the time to install quantum actuators into your circuitry. It allows you to create multiple selves."

"Multiple selves?"

"How else would we get anything done around here? Just use the time pads to record the actions you initiate while the "present" you goes on to do other things. Time pads can be a bit tricky. (A bit?) Let me show you how they work."

_One demonstration later..._

"Go on sir. Now you give it a try!"

Why not? Clank walked up and stepped on a time pad. _Temporal recording initiated. _ Clank then ran up to the button on the floor, stood on it, and ended the recording. He then stepped on the other one. _Temporal recording initiated. _He waited as his recording pressed the switch for him, and the door opened. He then simply ran through it, ending the recording.

"What an ingenious temporal design. Did you make it yourself?"

"Are you kidding? Orcus is the smart one!"

In the room seems to be more time pads. "Now sir, on these situations you'll have to record over one of your past recordings in order to move forward. I'll show you."

_One slightly more difficult demonstration later..._

"Your turn sir!"

Clank remembered to focus, and went for one recording, and activated the door to the chamber with the other button. He then used the other time pad to press the button in the chamber the recording opened. He then _re-_recorded over the first recording so he could open the chamber for the other recording and open the door for the original Clank. He then went through it.

"Wow! Orvus was right! You're gonna do just fine! Race you to the temporal chamber! (Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler runs into platform holder and destroys it) Ah! Come on! I _just _fixed that!"

Clank felt bad for Sigmund. He'll have to remember to destroy that not when he gets the chance. But...something picked up on his sensors, and he looked around. "It seems someone else is here."

"What?! No way! With all due respect sir, only the Zoni,Orvus himself, those that doctor not and the butler guy, and you and me know where The Great Clock is! No one else should be here! I'm hoping..."

"I am being completely honest with you Sigmund, there is someone else around here. I will take a look." He stepped on the meteor pad and jumped to the other platform, landing. He then began to search a little more.

"I know that I sensed someone here...my bio-scan proves it...where are you? Excuse me! If you are here, please show yourself!" At that, there was some rustle in the tree there(it was real) and Clank got a closer look. "Hello?" There was someone there alright, he could see its tail...tails? It then peaked its head slightly from the tree, but then ducked back.

"Oh my. Sigmund! Over here, the person is here!" He was calmly saying this, trying not to startle the person.

"What?! More intruders?! How else will we-" "Hush Sigmund. I am quite sure that whoever I see here is... a child. I do not wish to frighten him more than we probably have already."

"A child? How did a child get-" "Sigmund. What did I just ask of you?" (Pouts) "For me to hush..." "Very good."

Clank turns back to the mystery child, a little warmer looking than before. "Come on out. One must not get lost in a place like this." The figure didn't seem too interested or safe feeling enough to move from his thought. "Please show yourself. Like yourself I too am just beginning to learn about this place."

The figure showed itself only slightly, leaving Clank the clue that the child is yellow. "How do I know that the both of you are not the evil robots?" "No harm will come to you, we promise. Now please consider showing yourself, we all have somewhere to be, which I trust you do as well."

With no other seeable option, the figure slowly came out from his hiding place. This creature has yellow fur, white on his chest, white gloves,red and white shoes, blue eyes, and..._two _yellow tails with white tips. _How peculiar..._

The creature slowly came out from his hiding spot, timid. "Um...hi."

"Come now, there is no need to be afraid of us. We will not harm you. Now then, mind telling us your name young one?" Clank steps forward, trying not to look threatening. "Let me start then. My name is Clank. Yours?"

"Uh...um...okay. My name...is Miles Power. But...most people have called me Tails." "Very well then Tails. Mind telling me how and/or why you are here?"

The young fox known as Tails looks like he got a headache from the question. "I can't remember how I got here. In fact...I don't remember going anywhere. All I remember is that me and Sonic-" He stopped. Now he remembered something important. "SONIC! We've been separated! Where am I?! Where'd he go?!"

Clank tried to grab his shoulders, which was difficult because he is still the shorter one. "Tails! Please calm down! Breathe!" He did what he asked, and regains his calm. "Better. Now if you do not mind, please tell me who this "Sonic" is?"

"He's my friend. My best friend. We knew each other for years, never leaving the others side. But...now I don't know where he is, or where am I. And most importantly...why we separated in the first place...I'm scared...I have no idea what to do next...I'm all alone here..."

Clank didn't need to think about his answer to this. "I am here." Tails looked a Clank again. "Look at it this way Tails: I have seemingly been here for an entire year, yet I was unconscious the entire time. Just waking up, I was as surprised as you are. Just as well, I am blindly walking through here just like you. And that means that I am at your side, so you are not alone here."

The fox stared at Clank, focused and more comfortable. "Really?" "Really. Perhaps...since your friend is gone...and I am also separate from my best friend...will you mind having a journey with me through the Great Clock until then?" Tails pondered his chances, and smiled. "Okay!"

"Very good. If you do not mind me asking, how old are you?" "About 11 years old." "Really? You look younger than that, but that is fine. Now, let us be off." Clank looked around for Sigmund, but he was gone. "Sigmund? Where did you go?" "I'm in the next room sir! Its a very important one!"

Tails followed Clank into the next room, a really big one, with a chamber right on the side. "Where is Orvus?"

While Sigmund discussed the functions of the Mnenomic Chamber, Tails decided to take a small look around. The Great Clock is a giant mystery to him, with being inthe very center of the universe and all. He's never seen anyplace anywhere with so much technology of the old and new ages. And the crazy part is that the old tech looks super new to him. And the super new things...wow.

"Amazing...even Sonic would say that this place was incredible. This the largest place of tech and history I've ever been to." When he saw Clank approach him, he took attention to him. "Tails, I will be taking a small trip inside the Mnenomic Chamber. Will you mind waiting for me until then?" Tails nodded. "Good. Do not wander off, Sigmund will stay with you. But I do expect that there will be no trouble, so just stay here." With that, Clank opened and jumped into the chamber, closing hiseyes and floating.

Tails, with nothing better to do in the meantime, decided to sit down and wait patiently. 15 minutes later, he was still waiting, when he heard something buzz over his head. When he looked up, he tried not to panic. It looks like some giant wasp monster was puffing up and glowing angrily at him. It was a Beegus Wasp.

He then got up, and just stared it down, while moving backwards slowly. The creature puffs out, and spits three balls of fire at him! Tails screamed out and dodged all three, a little clumsily. He got back up and ran around the room, avoiding fireballs every few seconds. He then accidently ran out of the next door, and reached a dead end. Several Teratropes also came out of the ground, surrounding him around the ledge. Tails was too scared to react. "No...H-help! Clank!"

The Teratropes charged at him, but then something smacked them away. Appeared in front of him, was Clank. He was holding something in his hands... And without warning began to beat the enemies back with it. It seems to be manipulating time, shown as every time he hit one it went significantly slower. He was also throwing these time bombs that also slowed them down, maybe even stop then completely. He felt with the last Teratrope by spinning the staff and swiping at the creature, knocking it off the platform. When he finished, he looked at Tails. "Are you alright?"

His breathing returning to normal, the fox got up, dusting himself off. "Yeah. I guess so. But...what is that?" Clank held the scepter in his hands. "Oh this? Apparently it is called the Chronoscepter. With it, one can manage the Great Clock with greater ease than without it. My father Orvus has had it locked up, until I specifically would soon be able to use it." "Your dad? But isn't he a Zoni?" "You are correct. But he was the one who created my soul, while it was simply put into my current body. It...was admittedly complicated at first." Thats a first for Tails, a robot with a soul. Well...first time for everything.

Before anything continued, Sigmund appeared, all panicky. "Sir?! Tails?! What happened?! Are you alright?!"

"We are fine Sigmund. Tails was attacked by the so called Teratropes, and you weren't here watching him?" "I'm sorry sir! That stupid Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler broke one of the bridges leading forward, I attempted to fix it, I though with Tails in the chamber with you then nothing would happen! I'm sorry!"

Clank sighed. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes Sigmund, no matter how messy or organized one can be. Let us just continue."

"Okay! Right this way sir!" But after that, the you-know-what struck something again, the shorter route. "GAH! I HATE YOU HYPERSONIC BRAINWAVE SCRAMBLER! AND I'M GONNA GET YA! You know...after I've found you...and taken a few karate lessons...BUT JUST KNOW YOU'RE ON MY LIST PAL!" Clank simply looked on, confused, while Tails sweat dropped. "Uh...Sigmund?"

"We believe it is gone."

"That's right! RUN AWAY!" Choosing to just move on, the three moved on, while Clank solved another puzzle to get past it. When they reached another room, with what looks like a very difficult puzzle. "Ooh...Sir, this one looks like a doozie!"

Clank came to the conclusion that he will have to re-record things, but Tails stepped in. "Let me try. I have a way of only using one recording." Clank looked at him, unsure. "Are you positive you want to give it a try?" "I'm sure I do. Give me a chance." Nodding, Clank stepped aside. "Remember, you only get a minute."

Tails nods, and steps on a time pad. Sigmund was a little worried, but Clank said through looks that it would be alright. He somehow knew that Tails was smart enough to do this.

Activating the temporal recording, Tails made his way to the ledge, looking at the button that can open the door. Then, to Clank and Sigmund's surprise, he rotated his twin namesakes at a good enough speed to get him in the air, and he smoothly flew for the button. He ended the recording and was brought back to the robots.

"You can fly too?! Why didn't you say anything?" Sigmund exclaimed. Tails rubbed scratched his head. "Since I get tired rotating my twin tails after awhile, I didn't think it'd matter, since you two don't get tired much." Sigmund gave up, that was reasonable. But Clank was smiling. "I knew that I've seen a little genius in your eyes. You thought I couldn't tell? Well...come then, we move forward."

They did just that, moving towards an empty but roomy space. Just then, the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler appeared, knocking something else over with its sonic blasts. "Sir! Look out! Its the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler!" Clank got battle ready, and moved towards it. "Tails, stay where you are, I will handle this." Tails was about to protest, but found no point.

Clank stared the machine down, Chronoscepter in hand. "Your time has come, Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler!"

Clank charged forward, while the HBS fired waves of sonic energy at him, which he dodged by either jumping or strafing sideways. He was going for its head, but it quickly moves to the side and he hit it there instead.

It was damaged, but it was not out. In fact, that hit seemed to make it faster. Teratropes appeared from under the ground and surrounded him, but with a rotational swipe, he wiped them all out with ease. He then used a time bomb to make sure it doesn't get away quickly, and got a hard hit on one of its resonators.

It then went crazy-er, and blasted enough sonic energy to force Clank off of him, making him hit the ground and accidently dropping the scepter to the side.

"Oh no! He's in trouble!" Sigmund worried rapidly. Tails grew concerned too, until he grew an idea. "I'm going on to help him!" He flew off before Sigmund could do anything.

As the HBS was about to knock Clank off the platform, Tails appeared on its back, making it fly into the air even more uncontrollably. But Tails kept his grip on the back of its compartment. "Control panel, where's the control panel?!" Then, to weird luck, there was a sticker with an arrow pointing to where the cover for the panel is, saying "This is NOT the cover for the control pad! Look away fellow comrad e and/or stupid squishies!" Tails laughed. "Whoever put this here must be really stupid, or just wasn't thinking straight."

He pried it open, looking at many wires. But he somehow knew exactly where to cut. The glowing light green one. "There!" With no cutters on him, he stuck to biting it in half, preventing the HBS from using its sonic wave properties. It fell RIGHT next to the ledge where Clank was at, and he did a mere push just to spare it of embarrassment. They heard the explosion, knowing they have destroyed it.

Clank looked over, and pointed: "One Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler: Scrambled. Hehehehehehe!"

Sigmund and Tails approached Clank with relief. "Amazing! You did it Sir!"

Tails came to Clank, and they noticed each other, while the latter picked up the Chronoscepter. "Tails, that was some quick thinking back there. It was enough to turn the tide of the battle completely to my favor." Tails rubbed his neck. "Well...you were already kinda winning anyway, I just made sure I could seal the deal." "Well nevertheless you assisted me, and I am very grateful."

The two smiled at each other. "So what do you say Clank? Want to explore the other parts of this enormous clock?" "I would not have it any other way." Converse ends with a high-five. Sigmund then flew in between them. "You think you can me how to fight like that someday?" Clank and Tails wore amused smiles. The three of them should get along just fine...

* * *

_What is your status? What do you see? The image with Eggman on it appeared on the unknown figures watch comm unit._

_It is Tails, Master. He has sided with the one known as Clank. They now journey deeper into this...Great Clock. Should I continue pursuit?_

_No, you've done enough for now, return to base. _

_Yes Master. The figure then teleported, unable to be seen. _

_Back at base, Eggman laid in his chair, wondering. "So...the fox brat is alive too? How many did I miss? Doesn't matter, I have thw information I need." He pulls up a pic of Ratchet, and paired them together. "Now you two just may dig up the rest of it for me...but...let's just see what happens..." _

_He knows well enough to realize that messing with the Great Clock is a fatal idea. But he has other ways to use its properties without consequnce, and thats why he has chosen to sit back...for now._

* * *

**Another chapter finished! Now that the other side of the duo has been revealed, I can MAYBE make _slightly _longer chapters. No matter how hard it gets, i'll still try! **

**Reviews, Favorites, and Follows are appreciated. It lets me know that someone is actually reading this. Inspiration, also that. That one is also important.**

**Well that's all for now! Next chapter is...whatever name I give it. Bye!**


	3. Contact

_**I'm going to say this: Sorry. I almost completely forgot about this, and I even deleted it by mistake! But i'm keeping it going, no matter what! I just need to put time into it, thats all. Anyway, new chapter!**_

_**I don't Ratchet and Clank, or Sonic the Hedgehog. Not..one...bit..**_

* * *

_**Back in the Great Clock...**_

"That was INCREDIBLE sir! BAM! POW! KA-BOOM! HAHA! Not to mention that _awesome _one-liner! What was it again?"

"Hm? Oh Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler...scrambled. Hehehehehe!" The trio were currently making their way around the Great Clock, proceeding to Clank's next job. This time they made sure to keep Tails close.

"Gahaha! Yeah...that was cool. Anyway...let's go. Orientation room is this way." As usual Sigmund takes the lead as Tails and Clank followed after him. They mostly had to fly because there were so many platforms. Clank had to slow down malfunctioning gears along the way so that both he and Tails can get around better. There were a lot of those.

"Know what they say? Never put off today what you could've done yesterday!...No thats not right...Always put today where you could've have pu-No wasn't it either..."

"Never put off until tomorrow, what could be done today?" Tails guessed. "Yes! Yes! That was it! Orrrr...something like that." Making their way through another door, Sigmund gets to working on the door. But through rotten luck, Terratropes came up from the ground.

"Ah great! More Terratropes! I'll get the door,you-THERE'S ONE BEHIND YOU!" "Sigmund! Seriously not helping him!" Tails said. "Sorry!" Clank got to beating them senseless as Sigmund opens the door. They managed to rush through with no problems. Clank then began to solve the next room.

"Why aren't I affected by the time shifts from the time pads?"

"Thats your quantum actuator at work. It provides temporal immunity to those here that protect time." While Clank completed that puzzle, Tails thought about how much time has differences than he wouldn't expect. "Hm..."

They then proceeded to the next room. Most likely the Orientation Room. "This is the most awesomest part of the Clock! Large green crystalized TV! V9-900 game system. The works!" Tails and Clank looked around in awe. "You know what Sonic would say to a room like this?" "I know what Ratchet would think of this." They both said:

"That is the BIGGEST flat screen I have ever seen!" They looked at each other, and laughed. "By the sounds of it..." "Sonic and Ratchet are not so different either." They made their way around the room while following Sigmund.

"Hey Clank." "Yes Tails?" "How come you never speak with contractions?" "Well Tails it is because I...it is because I...er...uh...because...huh. I do not quite know why I do not speak in contractions." Tails shrugged. "Maybe you're just programmed like that." "I guess so."

They followed Sigmund to the center of the room. Tails was a bit confused. "Is...that...a couch?" "Sure is! How else can we watch this giant TV?" Its confusing because its the only thing you can see on the floor from afar.

"Anyway...have a seat sir. The Orientation Video's about to start." With that, Tails and Clank took a seat in the couch, as the video started.

_**(Note: I add this for the sake of length.) **_

_"Dadadaaa! Orvus Industries presents: The Great Clock and You! With your host: Ooorrrrrvus!" _

_"Hello! And- wait. Is it on? Sigmund? The light is blinking. Should it be blinking?" _

_"Uh...hold on sir." (Camera fixing...screen is sideways...Tails giggles) _

_"Hello! And welcome: To The Great Clock! You are here because you've been selected to join our team. And we couldn't be happier to have you! We have much to discuss, but first: Let's take a look at what the Great Clock is." (Scene shift) _

_"Eons ago, our kind entrusted the Fongoids with an amazing gift: The gift of time travel.(grabs Tails full attention) We had hoped it would enrich their lives, as it did ours. But...unfortunately..."_

_"They loused it up!" _

_"Sigmund! Ahem. Let's just say that overzealous of its use. Only after 3,000 short years, the Fongoids use of time travel warped the space time continuum! Paradoxes right on top of paradoxes! Conundrums on top of conundrums! Until one day...(massive explosion) A tiny rift in the space time continuum destroyed eighty three celestial entities, existence...was at an end. If the universe were to survive, it would need a heart transplant. So, I designed a special gift to repair the damage. The Great Clock. Built in the exact center of the universe. Give or take, 50-50...The Great Clock would fix the rift, and restored temporal normality to the universe! And THAT my son, is where YOU come in." (Static)_

_"There are only two covering the operation of the Great Clock: #1: Under NO circumstances is the Clock to be used as a time machine. Its only designed to keep time, by no means alter it. #2: If you DO consider using it as a time machine, consult to rule #1. Hmhmhm! Did you get that Sigmund? Because rule #1 says to not do it."_

_"Hehehe! Brilliant sir!" _

_"Great! Let's go have some tea."_

**_(End Video feed)_**

Clank and Tails got off the couch and headed for the next door. "Incredible. The Great Clock is the reason why there temporal stability in the universe?"

"Now you know why Orvus kept it such a secret! Without this station, the universe would just collapse on itself." Tails thought to himself: _No wonder this Nefarious guy wants to use it for himself..._

"Sigmund? Where _is _the real Orvus?" He asked next. The bot hesitated for a minute. Tails took note of that. "Its...a secret. Come on sir, its time for another lesson ." With that, Clank hopped in the next Mnenomic Chamber, as he dwelled into unconsciousness. Tails decided to sit close by to prevent being chased off again, as a few minutes passed...

Clank was done, and he hopped out of the chamber. "Welcome back sir! Ready to repair time?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Sigmund. May I ask, what is the Orvus Chamber?"

"Ah, the Orvus Chamber is the control center of the Great Clock, its also the most secure. Never been inside it myself, but I hear its a massive switch to the entire universe!"

Tails kept close to Clank while taking all of this in. "I never thought that it would be that simple. And it must also be why its so dangerous and so forbidden to others. No wonder the bad guy wants to get in there so badly." "Indeed have to keep it safe."

"Anyway Clank, I didn't think that it would be so easy yet so complicated. No wonder its a very important job." "It is all in responsibility, Tails."

"Alright, right in here is one of the planet rooms. Here you'll fix the damages caused by Dr. Nefarious. Just meet me back here when you're finished." Clank went to work on restoring time on Planet Quantos. Tails stared in awe. _Its like a large scale model of every planet! There are several around here!_

_Temporal normality stored on Planet Quantos._

"Yes! Thats one down! And...probably more to go..." Tails said quietly. "No concern needed Tails. I am fully capable of restoring these planets on my own." Clank assured him. They exited the room, not fully noticing that Sigmund was gone.

While exiting, they found themselves involved in another puzzle, in which they completed easily. Clank then lead Tails to the next planet room.

_Time anomoly detected on Torren IV. _

Clank took a while to restore time to that planet as well, while Tails looked on in fascination. _Wow...he really can fix time displacements on a far away planet from right here. And just by POINTING at it! _

_Temporal normality restored on planet Torren IV._

Clank smiled. He was a pro at this already. Then again, he was always a fast learner. The duo moved on, but Tails was getting worried about Sigmund. He hasn't seen him anywhere since they ventured into the planet rooms.

"Here you go sir!" Never mind. He was only opening doors for them. Clank manages to easily defeat the minor enemies and complete yet another difficult puzzle. They then moved on to the final planet room in Sector Three of the Clock.

_Time anomaly detected on planet Terachnos._

Once again it took only a few moments to fix. _Temporal Normality restored on planet Terachnos._

Tails was full of wonders and all, but one question lulled his mind. _Is my home planet somewhere around here? Anyway..._"Wow Clank! You make saving these planets look so easy!" "Well...it was not without plenty of practice."

While he was wondering about that, they came across an irritated Sigmund who was right next to the door. "What are you talking about?! I AM Junior Caretaker! Now open the door."

_It would not hurt to say please once in a while._

"Please?" Tails tried. At his voice, the door opened for him and Clank, while Sigmund jaw dropped. "Wha? But your not...but she...how did you...?" "She asked for us to say please. Thats not very hard." Tails shrugged. Ignoring that, Sigmund lead the way to the next room, where he was trying to isolate himself for a moment.

Clank and Tails, concerned, decided to do a little easedropping from a safe distance. It looks like he was pulling something up. _"Accessing Archives." Then, a holographic image of Orvus appeared. _

_"Hello Sigmund. Just wanted to let you know, I will be traveling to the Tombli Outpost on Zanifar and will not be back until morning." _Clank and Tails looked at each other and back at the hologram. Orvus wasn't here?

_"A fellow scientist has requested an audience with me and etiquette dictates I comply."_

"Don't go sir..."

_"Mind the clock while I'm gone. Wind the pipe cleaners, and Sigmund...let's keep this our little secret. As the kids say: "B.R.B." End recording."_

"Please don't go...its...dangerous..."

Clank and Tails retreated back to cover, as they discussed what they just saw. "Clank...that recording...it means that Orvus never came back!" Tails whispered. "I know Tails. We must get to the bottom of this." They both nodded. But something blinked in Tails' vision, and he pointed forward. "What's that?"

It was a computer, a old looking one to put it, but it seems to still be functioning. Clank walked up to it, straightened himself out, and began to type. "Hmmm...it seems to be an archive of planets destroyed, or in too much temporal disarray to even bother fixing...they seem to be set from oldest to latest..." Clank continued to skim through the files while Sigmund wasn't looking.

"Look here Tails. It says here that plenty of planets have been destroyed because the temporal anomalies were too powerful for them. The latest on that list...is Planet Mobius." Tails froze in sudden shock. It couldn't be! That can't be! But its right there...right in front of him, easy to view. "How unfortunate...it looks like such a beautiful planet as well. Wouldn't you agree-"

He stopped. Tails was clenching his small fists...he was resisting the urge to spill tears. "Tails? What is the matter? Why are you crying?" He almost completely forgot about the computer so he could comfort Tails. But the fox couldn't keep himself from shaking. "Mobius. It said the recently destroyed planet was called that right?" "Indeed it is. What are you implying?" Tails looked at the floor, his tears leaking.

_"Mobius is my home planet..." _

Clank now feels that Tails' situation was deadly serious. Even if they were able to fix everything, then where would Tails go? Another good question: What destroyed Mobius? Because it definitely wasn't temporal displacement, it said so on the archives. Clank wanted to know what happened to his father, but not at Tails' expense.

"Enough is enough. I must contact Ratchet!"

* * *

_The doctor sat in his floating chair thing, viewing tjw present image on his floating holographic screen. From that very moment, he knew that things probably will not stay calm for long. Now he can take action._

_"So he eventually figured it out after all...blast that tin can Clank...ha...oh well. You can't win on every angle. All that matters, is that you win. Nothing else. Computer!"_

_Greetings, Doctor Eggman. What will you require from us today?_

_"Give me the location of Ratchet and Sonic's next stop."_

_Scanning...targets are heading towards the Korthos Sector...they seem to be searching for a way to contact their comrade called Clank._

_"Head for there immediately then. I want to try something out..."_

_Yes Doctor. Changing coordinates now. _

_The ship was heading towards another direction, and began to speed up towards the Korthos Sector. _

_"Eggman...are you sure this is a good idea?" An unknown robot asked._

_"Don't you worry about it. Besides...its about time me and my old nemesis have a little chat..."_

* * *

"Sonic? Sonic? Yo Sonic!"

"Huh?! Wha?"

"I just wanted you to know that we reached the Korthos Sector in good time." Ratchet told Sonic after waking him up. "And it seems like we'll meet up with Alister in record time-"

_"Warning. Warning. Hostile ships detected." _Ratchet sighed. "Of course there is...why not?"

"Well well well...what do we have here?" Ratchet slouched in his seat. "Oh crap, Nefarious sent Valkyries after us, didn't he?"

"Looks like this Lombax is lost!"

"What do you say girls? Should we help him find his way?"

Sonic heard all of it. "Err...Ratchet?..what are Valkyries?" "Kinda pyscho female warriors who intensely despise males." "Then...why did the last one sound like a dude?"

"WHO'S THE DEAD MEAT THAT SAID THAT?!" Sonic stayed silent for the moment.

"Cassy! We've picked up a signal about three-thousand kilocubits northnof Orrack Minor. Its a Lombax ship."

"General Azimuth. The bounty on him is uo to two million bolts. Libras, be a good girl and take care of our little friend. We'll kill the elder." Two of the giant ships flew away, as the last one stayed behind. Perfect. Now Ratchet has to dealnwith this crap. Just...perfect..."

"General! We got hostile ships inbound!" "I see em. Don't worry for me, you just get to Lumos!" With that in mind, Azimuth has taken off, as Ratchet and Sonic. Ratchet then charged Aphelion towards the enemy ship. He immediately fired lazer cannons at it, which didn't do clear damage since it was so huge.

"Its pointless! You just die!" The cannons on the ship fired at Aphelion, as they barrel-rolled repeatedly to avoid any kind of damage. Ratchet then fired Proton Cannons at the enemy, and it took damage.

At that, it put up a huge shield, and the rest of the blasts bounced off of it. Then ten ships came out from its hangar and chased after him. "Sure...why not?" They all fired at him headfirst, and the shield had to be put up in order to counter them all. Ratchet then fired lasers once again at the group of fighters and destroyed them all.

At that, the Valkyrie ship's shields went down, and Ratchet fired at the bridge to do more damage to the entire ship. The guns below them fired at them once again, and it chipped a piece of Aphelion's wing, but didn't do major damage. Before Ratchet could finish them, the shields went back up again. Then after that, ten more ships came out of the hanger, and charged at Aphelion at high speed.

"Ah crud! There's more of them? We should be searching on Lumos by now!" Ratchet said out of frustration. Sonic decided that enough was enough. "Alright. You know what? I'm gonna take care of these things right now." "How are you gonna- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Sonic pressed the button to ooen the hatch, and he let himself float out into space. Ratchet closed the hatch and got oxygen back. "What is he thinking?!"

Sonic let himself drift out to the ten enemy ships, and curled into a ball. He then rammed himself into a fighter ship, and did so again for all of the rest. A blue beam of light always followed him when he made another attack. Every ship he hit, be it punch, spin kick, or stomp, he destroyed all ten fighter ships, then land next to the nearby turrents on the ship.

_Let's see if I can't destroy these. _He speeded forward again, he boosted so he would blast right through the center of those turrents. He destroyed multiple guns with simple spin-dashes. Bouncing liking a ball to dodge the incoming laser fire, and dashed to the other side and destroyed turrents in the same fashion. With those jobs finished, he homed in on the shield generator behind it, and smashed that too. The shields were crushed permanently, and Sonic managed a very high jump on Aphelions wing, as Ratchet opened the hatch so he could climb back in.

"That's all. Its shields are no longer active." But he then noticed that the Lombax was just staring at him, unbelieving. "What?"

"How...were you able to breathe in the vaccum of space? And attack a ship like that phyiscally?" "Obviously I can do a lot if things...I just don't remember completely on what they are." "You know what? I'll just kill her and move on." With two more blasts of proton cannons, he blasted the ships engine and it completely disappeared in a big explosion. It appears that Libras was dead.

"Finally. Maybe now we can still catch up with Alister. He's probably still waiting on us. Let's go!" With that situation over, Aphelion boosted towards planet Lumos, awaiting Alister.

* * *

The two eventually landed onto the Planet Lumos and exited the ship. Alister's ship could be seen, so he could not be very for away. They made their way to the one known as Odin Cave. He was waiting there for them.

"There you are! For a second there I was getting worried." "C'mon General, this is ME we're talkin' about." "Hehe. I guess. Anyway...we should find a way to raise that mining platform...luckily I always come prepared." He took a flare out of his belt and dropped it into the hole, until it landed next to a switch. "There. Head for the bottom and find a way to raise the platform."

"I'll handle it." Sonic said. "Are you really up for this? You did just join in after all." Ratchet handed him his Omniwrench with no hesitation. "Thanks." Sonic stretched his legs and hopped into the pit. "General. Believe me. If you saw what I seen him do in our little space confrontation...eh..he'll be fine." As Alister recollected a few memories with Ratchet about Kaden, Sonic managed to find the switch. Then came the difficut part...to him.

"How did he use this again? Uh...um...do I turn it like this? Or this? Maybe if I just bang it a few times..." "Dude! Just extend it onto the bolt and turn it sideways!" "OOHHH! Thanks!" Sonic followed the instructions and raised the bridge all the way up to complete the bridge. "Haha! Got it!" Sonic hopped back onto the cliff and tossed the Omniwrench back to Ratchet. The bridge was set.

"Not bad...not bad at all! Come on boys! Lets go find that eye!" Alister said and they followed after them. "Lets search the cave!" They searched the beginning of the cave, but were stopped soon after they entered. "Wait! Hold on, up ahead. See that nest up ahead? Its a Tetramite Nest. They are swarms of littlw critters, whatever you do, don't let them touch you."

"Wwwhhhyyy?" "Let's just say that they can digest anything. Listen, Tetramites hate water, if we can just get to the other side quick enough we should be fine. Let's go!" One quick boost of speed later, they got past the fast eating bugs. After that, Ratchet began to wonder...

"Genreral? Do you think we can talk? About my father? And the lombaxes?" "There's no time for distractions! Not when we're so close!" Sonic pondered._I don't remember much...but whenever someone tries to dodge a question..it usually means they got something to hide..._

After passing that, and another Tetramite nest, they reached some sort of ramp. "What did I tell you? A Leap Of Faith!" Alister activates hoverboots and jumps the ramp into the abyss. "General! Wait!" Sonic shrugged. "Follow the leader Ratchet. Alister is the leader, we follow him anywhere." Sonic jumped the ramp into the darkness. Ratchet scratches his ear in exhaustion but also jumps it.

At the bottom, Ratchet sees that Alister already lit a fuse and was looking for a way forward. "General wait! Hold on for just a moment! I wanna know what happened."

"Questions, Questions questions! You ask all of these questions! Ask yourslef this: What relevence does the past have when it could be changed?! Your father would have said not very!"

"He's not exactly his father, is he?" Sonic said, lying against a wall. "In my eyes, father and son or no, Ratchet has a right to ask whatever is on his mind. You want him to stop asking questions, stop avoiding them."

"And my questionn is this: "Why aren't you with the other Lombaxes?!"

"I FAILED THEM!" The outburst took them aback, as Alister cooled down. "I failed them..."

Sonic regained his voice. "You couldn't have messed up that badlg for them to leave you out here. But then again...I don't know much about any events around here..."

"I made a mistake..."

_**Another Flashback...**_

_After the Great War, Polaris was such a dangerous place. Even with the Cragmites gone, I knew steps needed to be taken to protect the galaxy. (Images) _

_One day, we were approached by an inventor with incredible ideas; technology light years beyond what we were using. The inventor was someone...someone your father told me not to trust. Our kind had grown suspicious of him, but I was convinced this was ths right thing to do-for the galaxy. _

_I granted him full access to our technology. All of our secrets. Only wben he waz finished...(destruction) They took refuge in the court, but yiur father refused. He would never have left your mother, but when he made it back, she...She was already gone._

_I don't know how long he survived before Tachyon caught up with him. But I know I was responsible for his death._

**_End Flashbacks..._**

"For my crimes, I was forbidden from joining the Lombaxes, and so I live an exile." Silence ensued.

"I can make it right, Ratchet. All of it. I...We can fix it." Alsiter kneels down to ratchet, puts hand on shoulder. "With the clock under our control, it'll be like none of this ever happened! Stay with me, and I promise I'll get your family back!" With that, Alister pounded through the wall with his wrench and blasted right through it, destroying it and picking up a lot of dust. As Alister moved on, Ratchet began to follow him, but noticed that Sonic stayed where he was.

"Sonic? Uh...its time to go bud. Sonic?" The blue hedgehog could not hear him, he was hearing something different in his mind. _Failure...you're nothing but a mere failure! _

"Sonic!" He finally snapped out of it, and came to his senses. "Y-Yeah. Let's go." They followed Alister right through the hole. "What made you freeze up like that? Something on your mind?" Sonic didn't answer, so Ratchet dropped it. But Sonic was still shaking. _Tachyon? I'm not completely sure...but I KNOW I remember hearing that name before. But...why does it piss me off so much? _

When the two made it outside, they saw that there was numerous amounts of destruction and chaos afoot. The locals were being attacked.

"Outsiders! Please, you must help! The Agorians have launched a full-scale assault on the settlement. Our kind has barricaded themselves in their homes!"

"We have no time for pettt squabbles. Ratchet, remember the missiin. The Obsidian Eye is all that matters!" Alister said.

"Bullcrap!" Sonic shouted. "You can keep looking, but I'm not going to ignore this! They're getting slaughtered! They need our help NOW!"

"The Eye! It's in a temple! I can take you there! Please, we are not an aggressive race. Help us defeat the Agorians, and I'll show it is." Sonic folds arms in victory, as Alister sighed. "You win this round.."

"Ah crap! They just destroyed that bridge over there! Pretty sure needed that!" Ratchet said. "Oh wait, we can just jump it!" Taking up increasing speed, they managed to jump the ramp created by the destroyed bridge. "Boys! Take out that rider! I'll cover you!" Alister began to hop into battle as Sonic and Ratchet took cover behind a few rocks.

"How do we take out Orange and Ugly over there?" "Easy." Ratchet went though his weapon wheel, and brought out his Plasma Striker, and began to aim. "Where'd you get that?" "Sonic my friend, Alister as the power and the moves. I have the moves and the arsenal. I always have to be prepared." Ratchet began to lock in to the Agorian's highlighted weak spot, and fired. "Yeah! Instant kill!"

The other Agorians caught wind of his shout, and headed towards them. "Oh...boy."

"Split up!" Sonoc shouted as he boosts towards another direction, as Alister and Ratchet dealt with the Agorians. He mostly stuck to cover and took out most of them in the area already. "Ah man, the beast is just as much of a jerk as the rider!" Alister used sidwipes to keep the creature at bay until in eventually got too tired and was knocked inconscious.

Sonic sped along the broken path, avoiding tons of blaster and was taking down multiple homing attacks and multiple spindashes. "Come on guys! You can't even back me into a corner!" As he was heading for another turn, several more of the warriors took up his space and cornered him next to a cliff. "Well...look at that...you cornered me...or did you?" "Of course we did! Look at you! You have nowhere to go!" "Ha...I guess I better fight back then." Sonic charges another spindash, launched himself towards the group, and bowled them all over at a huge distance. He thwn jumped up and punches another rider in the face, and he hit the wall, falling unconscious.

As he was doing that, Ratchet was forced to resort to using the fusion turrent to shoot down airborne forces. There was so mang, but multiple missiles and lasers did the job. The commander was sent packing by Alister. This battle was short, and it was easy.

"Ha! What a bunch of noobs! Alright Alister, we can keep looking for the Eye. Nothing can distract us now."

_**(One seriously complicated cave exploration later...)**_

"There it is!" The Obsidian Eye was conviently placed at thw end of the cave. Alister tried to get it working. "Fulcrum star's cracked. We may not be able to get a signal...Stand by for system uplink."

**(Great Clock) **

Clank was sitting in the Orientation Room, wkndering what his next step was to be. But something was coming up on the giant screen.

"Clank!" _Ratchet? _

"Ratchet? How did you find me?"

"You kidding me? You think I'd leave my best pal out here alone?"

"Who are they?" He mentioned to Alister and Sonic. "Is the white one a Lombax?" "Yeah, this is General Azimuth. He's been helping me look for you. Just send me a signal and we'll pi k you up." "Hold on Ratchet. What about the other one?" "Oh, this is Sonic right here. He was...kinda dying...so i helped him out, now he's helping me." Sonic waved. "Yo."

Clank folded his arms. "As I suspected..." "Huh? What did you suspect?" Clank turned. "Tails! Please come here for a moment." Sonic blinked st the name. Tails?

On cue, Tails appears next to Clank, no longer crying. "Tails. Is this the "Sonic" that you mentioned?" Tails looked up, and his heart fluttered. "Sonic! You're alive!"

Wait. He knows his name? But how-HOLD ON! "Tails? Little buddy? Its really you?" He knew he remembered him. He'd never forget his best friends face. Thats one thing he didn't forget, he just wasn't sure about it. "Yes Sonic! Clank has been taking care of ke since I just appeared out of nowhere!"

"Wait wait wait wait wait!" Ratchet said while waving his arms. "You appeared out of a flash of light too?" He then folded his arms. "Now I know this isn't coincidence..."

_Signal integrity thirty-three percent._

"Oh no! We don't have a lot of time!" Tails said.

"Ratchet, I need your help. Orvus is in trouble. You must go to Zanifar and confront ."

"Zanifar?" Alister joined in. "Hebhasn't set foot on that rock since his station was completed two years ago."

"Then that is when you must confront him. Head for the Tombli Outburst and look for a time portal. Please save my father."

"Father? Clank, what's going on?" The signal was already failing. Tails took the front. "Sonic!" "Tails, the signal is aready wearing off! We don't have time!" "Then let me say this! Something bad happened to our home planet! And its why we're here!" "Our planet?! What about our planet?!" Too late, the signal was lost. Tails hung his head. _At least I know he's alright..._

"Sigmund." Somehow Clank knew he was behind them. "You cannot hide in the broom closet forever. Orvus needs our help. Now, can you synthesize a portal on Zanifar?"

"I suppose I could use the oscilloscopic entanglement modulator to create a vaccum of negative energy theoretically creating a traversble wormhole." Only those three would be able to comprehend that...

_Time rift stabilized. _"Ta-da!"

**(Planet Lumos) **

"Don't worry boys. We'll be able to get this done. Good work jn there by the way! You take care of what you need to here, and I'll meet you on Planet Zanifar." Alister said through comm links, and took off to space.

Sonic was left to wonder. "Tails is okay...yet he mentioned that somethjng bad happened to our planet...but I don't remember anything about it..." Ratchet put a hand on his shoulder. "Not to worry Sonic. We're gonna figure this out. Now we know that our buds are okay, we can start up progress again. Let's just follow Alister to Zanifar!"

_I'm afraid...this is as far as you go._

The two froze at the sound of the voice, and looked outside. "Ratchet? What was that?" "I don't know, I'm not picking uo any hostiles on my Nav-Unit..."

"That's because I'm not that stupid to just let myself be found." Right in the sky, a battleship has uncloaked itself to view fkr the guys. "What the heck is that?!" "I don't know!" Something was walking out of the door. Someone with black shades, a white scarf, a red jacket, and the black boots...and the robot arm, and the mustache...

"Greetings, my boys. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Doctor Eggman, and I've been waiting for quite a while to find the both of you." Ratchet was keeping himself from laughing. "Gahaha! Eggman?! What kind of name is that?! Ha!" "And "Ratchet" sounds SO much better?" Ratchet was serious again. "Alright old man, what do you want?"

"Not a lot, actually. I just want to talk to your blue friend here." "Who? You mean Sonic?" The hedgehog stepped forth. "Who are you. What do you want with me?" "I just wanted to confirm that you were alive...so I could kill you the right way." "W-What?! Why would you do that?! I don't even know you!"

Eggman rubbed his chin. "The updates were correct after all...that thrashing me and my partner gave you back on Mobius might have triggered memory loss. Can't say the same for Tails though. In fact..I would consider this an unfair advantage." Ratchet saw where this was going. "Wait...YOU were the one who made him look like absolute crap when I found him?! And what do you mean partner?!"

Eggman didn't listen to Ratchet at that moment, he had an evil grin on his face. "But then again, I always liked being a cheater!" Multiple missile launchers were popping out of his dropship, and aimed at Ratchet and Sonic. "Fire!" The first rocket was launched. Sonic only reacted by widening his eyes, the missile was heading right for him...

* * *

**Thats it for this one. It was tough, but I managed it. Await the next chapter for me! As I said, these will take time! A lot of time probably, but I'll manage. Next Time!**


	4. Battle After Battle, And Not ONE Break!

**Here is chapter four, right where we left off. A certain someone has just attacked the heroes. Its Doctor Eggman. _Or is it?_**

**Anyway, let's begin. Don't own anything.**

* * *

"Sonic! Look out!" The missile almost hit Sonic dead on, so Ratchet jumped and pushed him out of the way. The resulting explosion blew the both of them away with powerful force, as they stumbled along the ground. . They eventually got back up and glared at Eggman.

"Hey man! Do you know how many people over the years has tried to blow me up?! Too many!" Ratchet yelled, tick mark on his head. Sonic wasn't very happy either. "What the heck is your deal?!" The doc merely shook his head.

"Good lord you really do have amnesia...I honestly thought that you were faking it and just lying low. But I just realized that you aren't that smart. Oh well. Egg Mechs!" After his call, multiple robots looking like him, the shades, the..."physical mass" and the pointy noses. And blasters. Not forgetting the classic blasters. "Crush them both!" The twenty to thirty bots assembled and charged towards the duo.

Ratchet brought out his Omniwrench and stood his ground while Sonic did the same. The first few mechs spread out and opened fire upon them. Ratchet took cover behind some rocks while Sonic charged through and bounced into a ball on three of them, only to be knocked down by the fourth one. Before that one continued, Ratchet hit him dead on with his Plasma Striker.

More mechs came inbound, and Ratchet shot down all of them with precise aiming in the head. That is, until all he heard was clicks. "Oh crap...I forgot to reload this from the previous battle...then again, there are at least forty of them..." Ratchet went through his aresnal, and out came his Constructo Bomb Glove. "Only a few levels until Omega mode...it'll have to do."

Sonic got back up and charged up a spindash, and speeded right through five mechs. They again opened fired, and he had to keep dodging the multiple blasts of energy. He did so with not much effort, and used homing attacks to knock down more of them, and kicked away a flying one.

Ratchet set his glove to Shrapnel and Shockwave, and launched a bomb at the group. They were charging forward again, but the bomb exploded in a widespan radius and shrapnel pierced through most of them went down by now. Some got back up, and turned their blasters into lances, and charged forth once again. Ratchet set his glove for Explosion and Shrapnel, and launches another bomb at the group. The bomb explodes right in the middle, and once again explodes at them, and they were filled with even more shrapnel.

Ratchet brought out his Constructo Pistol and still his behind the rock again. Every few seconds or so, he'd come out and blast a few mechs right through their bodies and they'd explode. He repeats the process three times, then goes to reload. Sonic was homing in on the flying bots, kicking away st them as they crashed into other mechs and exploded into others. He also remembered to chain his attacks and did so, and he knocked down every flying mech into the ground, which explodes after a few moments.

Sonic spindashed once again, and sped away at more of them, and crashed through them in a loop-like pattern, and kicked one into the air, and Ratchet shot the airborne bot with the Constructo Pistol, and it fell down, no longer working. He then set his Constructo Bomb Glove to Toxic and Skyburst. He fired his last Bomb, and it blows, and the toxic acids went sky high, sticking to the flying mechs. Their insides melted and they fell to the ground. Sonic used his enhanced boost to power at one mech, and the force knocked it all the way to Eggmans dropship, landing on his window.

"Seems Ratchet is more of a formidable opponent than I expected..." The mech on his window spoke. "Master Eggman...I request a raise for my services. The pain is too much for me to take." "Don't be absurd! You're a robot! You don't feel pain! Watch!" He pressed a button, and the window popped up, and the Egg Mech went flying. "AHHHHHHHH-BOOM!" Ratchet blew him up with his Negotiator and placed it on his back. "Well he certainly won't feel that." Sonic chuckled. "That thing is called the Negotiator, and-" "It does the exact opposite. And yes it is quite funny."

There were ten mechs left, and Ratchet brought out the Constructo Shotgun. "Let's deal with the rest of you, shall we?" He fired only two shots, Spread Barrel and Lance, and they pierced right through them. They fell with no sound. "Ha! All gone!" Eggman only smiled. "Good thing I pack extras." He presses another button, and forty more mechs on the ground, and they were ready to battle. Ratchet facepalmed. "Of course there are..." But they had somewhere to be.

"Enough of this crap! I'm gonna send you guys packing!" He went through his arsenal, and brings out the...Eggman looked at the weapon, and he and his mechs laughed hysterically. "HOHOHOHO! OH THATS RICH! Y-You serious think you're gonna scare me away with that tiny thing?! How preposterous!" Ratchet had a victorious grin on his face.

"This isn't just some tiny weapon. Its the Rift Ripper 5000. It can-" "Rift Ripper? What can you possibly hope to do with something that small? It can seriously fit into the palm of my hand, and not taking any space! It might as well be a pen!" Ratchet's eye twitched. "Ya know what? I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to introduce you to one of my most dangerous allies!...Fred." He aims it towards the sky, and it shot a dark ball into the air. After a few moments, nothing happened.

"Uh...dude? Your weapon-" Give it a second, Sonic." "But seriously, nothing is happening-" "No no, hold on." After those few moments, the black hole opened up, and some tentacle monster with one eye came halfway out of it, and saw his buddy Ratchet. "Hiya Fred! Nice to see you again! Listen, um...I'm still looking for Clank, but these mechs are getting in the way. So...can you be a pal and get rid of them for us?" There was gibberish, then Fred turned towards the mechs. Eggman didn't expect it, and was quite nervous. "Oh dear..."

Fred began to take the mechs into the portal by tentacles, and they tried to runaway. But his tentacles extended to grab all of them in under a minute. Eggman sweatdropped. "Did...did I hear munching in that portal?" He sighed. "It doesn't matter, I'll have many other opportunities along the way. Until then..." He closed the windows and flew off into space. Ratchet took a breath. "Thanks Fred. I'll let you know when I need you again." One tentacle waved goodbye to him, and the portal disappears. Sonic and Ratchet began to walk back to the ship.

"Ratchet...what was that?" "That's my interdimensional buddy Fred. He likes beach walking, reading, eating our enemies, that stuff. Other than the last fact, he's actually a nice guy." Sonic was cool was that, but not cool with what just happened. _What the heck was that about? _

* * *

The duo eventually made their way into space. Due to that little distraction, Alister was long gone. So he left a recording.

"Hey, uh, Sonic? Sooo...what was that just then? I mean usually the crazy guys are shooting at _me. _And yet that dude fired at you first. Do you know why?" Sonic was just silent in his seat. He can't recall ever meeting that guy. "No answer, huh? Not very surprised by that." Ratchet turned his attention back to space. _Anyway...I better check in with Alister..._

Ratchet patched in to Alister, and he came up on screen. "Ratchet? Sonic? What happened?" "We...ran into a few distractions. Nothing we couldn't handle. You wanted to tell me something?"

"Yes...there's something I haven't told you about the clock. If we succeed-if we turn back time and stop Tachyon, the present as you know it will no longer exist." Once again, Sonic felt very agitated by the name.

"You mean I won't remember Clank?" "I mean, that you will never have met him in the first place. The Clock may offer some kind to temporal immunity for those who use it, but there are no guarantees." "...If this is the only chance to save my family, I have to take it."

"Good. Now don't be alarmed, but I just picked up Vorselon's signature not far crom our location. I'll distract him while you two head to the outpost, and remember, if Orvus is alive, it's imperative that you get the clock's locatiin from him! Good luck." Alster signed off.

Ratchet pondered about how the Great Clock was starting ti seem too dangerous to use for time travel, but he couldn't let the elder Lombax know that. "Sonic, what do you think?" Sonic lifted his head. "I'm following you guys. Its not like I have anything better to do."

_Ratchet. Incoming transmission. _"Alright Aphelion. Patch it through." _Playing transmission. _

"Ratchet? Ratchet are you there?! Ratchet, come in!" Hey...its Qwark. Yaaaay... "I hear ya Qwark. How goes it with the Agorians?"

"Eh...nnnnot so good. Somehow they got the idea that i'm some thrill seeking warrior with a thirst for battle!" Ratchet sighed. "Okay...did you TELL them that you are a thrill seeking warrior aith a thirst for battle?" "I was trying to make friends! Listen, I'm in alot of trouble, they put me in a tournament! You gotta get me outta here!" "Alright Alright, just find some place to hide and stay put. I'll be there as soon as we can." "Message recieved. Qwark out!"

Ratchet sighed. "Well...Sonic...I hope you're ready to fight some more." "Why? Who's that?" "A "friend" of mine has gotten himself in a bind. So we're going to have to bail him out before getting to our destination. We're busting him out of a battleplex." "A battleplex? As in gladiator style fights?" "Yep." Silence..."Eh...why not?"

* * *

Ratchet landed Aphelion in the Agorian Battleplex hangars, and the two hopped out and made for the doors. "Hey, uh...Aphelion? There are some pretty sneaky dudes out here...just...uh...give me a signal if someone tries to steal you." _All of my weapons are armed, boys. No one would try to steal a ship that can aim on its own. _"Good girl."

The two took the elevator and walked into the lobby. Multiple Terachnoids and Agorians were playing in the arcades. "Who puts arcades in a gladiator stadium?" "People who don't have much to do until the fights start." Ratchet said. After being introduced, they took a look around for a short while.

"Hey Ratchet?" "Yeah?" "You know those strange crab big brained dudes?" "Terachnoids?" Ratchet looked around. "Yeah. I bet the Agorians hired them to help them out with the complicated stuff. Dumbing down the nerd stuff." "Like you and Clank?" "Exact-...I almost fell for that..."

While walking around, Ratchet got a call from Qwark again. "Ratchet? Are you there? Where _are _you?!" "Hey Qwark, just checking the sights. Did you know that they have an arcade here?" "Really? How fascinating. Meanwhile on my end I'm going to get KILLED! Get me out of here!" "Alright, don't get your tights in a bunch, i'm comin'." Call over.

"Ratchet? I'm getting the feeling that Qwark is some kind of big coward or something." "Sure...coward is one thing you can call him..." While they were walking towards the Battleplex, they saw multiple Agorians shouting random crap at them, and eating food every few minutes. "Ratchet? That guy just completely sucked up his soda cup...and brought out another one. How are they-" "Hey, I only blast them when necessary, I don't need to know how they eat. Except I know that some are cannibals..." "Why's that?" "That fat one over there just ate a Terachnoid. I was mad, but couldn't save him." Sonic folded his arms. _Note to self: These guys need a beatdown._

They stepped on the warp pad, and were transported to theor first challenge. **"Welcoming Party" **

They were teleported to the arena, looking around iy once again. Sonic saw ghat the arena was surrounded by a pool of molton lava. "What the heck is this?! We can't leave the stage?!" Ratchet smiled. "Yep, at this point it doesn't even surprise me anymore. It only gets worse." "Wait. It gets WORSE?!"

Small bots were teleported into the arena, and made their way towards them both. "Oh please. Let me take care of this." Ratchet just brought out his Negotiator to blow them up all at once with three missiles. "See? Not hard at all. Now if i'm right the next two waves should be the same way. Beginners luck stage, _then _they try to kill us. Not that there is much of a difference..."

The second wave was sent out, and they blew fire out of their parts. Sonic nodded. "My turn." Sonic stretched out, and rushed the bots at high speed, destroyed every one of them in no time at all. Wave two completed. Wave three was pretty much the same. Wave Four actually have Agorians in it.

"What's this? You two lost or something?" Sonic sighed. "No. Why do you say that?" The Agorian warriors stood over the two, sneering. "My bad, you too just seem too puny to be in a place like this. Especially the Lombax over there. I thought you wanted your race to live on. (Gets in his face) Looks like extinction is right in my claws..." Ratchet grinned. "Yeah? How bout I shove that hammer there up your-" "Yo Ratchet. Calm yourself down, alright. You have to carefully pick whoever deserves a beatdown. (Points) THAT guy needs a beatdown."

Sonic jumped up and sidekicked him in the face, spindashed the other two, and tripped up the fourh one. He then expertly landed on his feet. "Like so. This Bronze Cup is easier than it should be. This round is just about over." Ratchet just sighed quietly. "I would agree with you, but I sincerely don't want to jinx our already ridiculous situation. Because I have a nasty habit of making things worse by being cocky." With that, they were teleported to the next challenge.

**Armageddon Outta Here**

"Alright, what are we doing now?" Sonic looked around.

"Pretty much the same thing. Except that those two machines are gonna be shooting saw-blades at us while we fight." Ratchet said. "Should be slightly easier to get through though." "Why do you think that?" "Apparently those machines don't have rules for friendly-fire." "What does that mean?" A few minutes later..."Wait! Isn't that thing supposed to-AAARRGH!" They both flinched, and looked pretty disgusted. Ratchet grabbed his Constructo Shotgun. "I'll just...put him out of his misery..."

**Return To Sender**

They teleported to the next round, and were in a chain platform. They saw Agorian's with bomb cannons kn their arms. "What challenge is this supposed to be?" Ratchet readied a wrench. "Not very sure...but I think we should be dodging those bombs they could throw at us..." "Wait what?!" The first bomb was blasted at them, and they each dodged to the sides.

"They get bombs and we can't even hit them? No fair!" "Life's never fair, bub!" That one threw another bomb at them, and they both jumped up to avoid the explosion. That next moment, the other bomb was blown up in Ratchet's face. Good thing his armor covers his face. He flipped in midair and landed on his feet. "Alright...ow! You are SO lucky that I have Ectoflux Armor on!" "You can't say the same for me!" Sonic shouts.

Another bomb was thrown, Ratchet stood in front of it. "Alright, screw this!" He caught the bomb with his wrench, and turned around and flung it back at them. The bomb took out three of them, and three points were added. "Wait...why-...crap." He facepalmed. "Return to Sender" I couldn't figure that out? I'm off my game..." Sonic stood back up. "Yet you have the right idea."

The next bomb was launched, Sonic jumped forth to kick it back at the attackers, and it blew two more of them away. He landed back on his feet, a little confused. "Ratchet?" "Yeah?" "Why do Agorians eat their own explosive cannon balls?" "Because apparently their stomachs can take an explosion better on the inside rather than out. Pretty powerful." "Well...that explains one part of their diet..."

So they continued to do just that. Ratchet launched them back at the Agorians with his wrench, and Sonic honestly kicked them back like soccer balls, eliminating them all. This round was over. They again teleported to the next round.

**Death From Above **

Theu were onto the next round, where the enemies were already set. "Heh! Just like the first two rounds! Easy!" After a few moments, the platform below them began to sink. Out of shock, they jumped to two different platforms. "What the?!" The other platforms also began to sink into the lava, and they had to jump again. Ratchet sighed. "Of course the platforms sink randomly...and we have to fight and watch the platforms at the same time...why not?"

Luckily Sonic is a high jumper. He went for the enemies that were on the floating platforms, and kicked their weapons away to Ratchet could focus on the ones around him. His Constructo Pistol was changed to rapid fire, and beam. He shot every bot above him out of the sky. The platforms were sinking and rising around him, and he was starting to lose track of the pattern.

"Okay...this is really starting to make me dizzy...I need to shoot down the rest of them." Ratchet brought out his Constructo Bomb Glove, set it to Barrage, and launched another bomb at the bots, and managed to destroy the rest of them. "Ah yeah!" The platform gave in from beneath him, and he sweatdropped. "Ah crap!"

Sonic speeded before Ratchet could fall into the lava, and they crashed into the hard floor. "Ow...thanks Sonic...and ow again..." Sonic helped him up and dusted him off. "Now we're even." High-Five, then at the screen. "Now the last challenge should allow us to save Qwark. I better not be a victim of a scam...again." Ratchet said boringly. Theg were then teleported to the final challenge.

**Bros Before Foes**

The duo was teleported to the final challenge, prepared for anything dangerous.

_How about that folks? Another amazing victory! Now...how about we get our challengers a liftle backup? Alllrrrrright! Welcome, the hero from the Solana Galaxy! Mister Copernicus Qwwwaaarrk! _

Qwark was being restrained by an Agorian guard, by his wrists and ankles. "That's _Captain _Qwark. I didn't take a two-week correspondance course just to be called "mister". Qwark was released, harshly handed a blaster, and the Agorian left.

"Hiya Ratchet! Who's your friend?" Ratchet, in an awkward manner, pulled Sonic to Qwark, and put his hands together. "Righto! Uuummm...Qwark: This is Sonic. Sonic: This is Copernicus Leslie Qwark. Full name." Sonic bursts out laughing. "Hahahahaha! Copernicus?! LESLIE?! That is ridiculous!" Ratchet pretended to try not to laugh. "Now now Sonic, we have to appreciate that Qw-Who am I kidding! That name really is ridiculous!"

"Hey! Are you here to make fun of me or rescue me?!" Qwark said. Ratchet calmed down. "Alright, alright. We're here to resuce you." Sonic still laughed a little. "I'm here for both!" "Alright, for real Sonic. Let's beat this tournament and get out of here." The three of them stood up. "Yeah! This will be easy!"

_**(Three waves later...)**_

"Okay...that was more difficult than I thought it would be...but...ha...at least...ha...we beat them all...finally..." Ratchet held himself up with his Omniwrench, Sonic was on his knees, and Qwark wasn't tired at all. Sonic was just thinking about this. ("Probably because he was a whiny cowardly piece of sh-") "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! It's time for the War Grok!"

_The War what now?! _Sonic thought. Qwark was next to Ratchet. "Never fear Ratchet. While I was in captivity I trained with the elite Umbüko Gladiators of Teraklon Six. My body is in peak physical condition, my senses sharp as trillium razors!" "Release the War Grok! (The War Grok appears in the arena, breaks free of it's handler, throws it's handler away and roars)Qwark tags Ratchet. "Not it! AAHHHH!" He ran away, not that there are many places to go to...

"Ratchet?" Sonic siad as he got up. "Yeah Sonic?" "That Qwark fellow...I don't like him." War Grok roars and charges at them. "That's alright Sonic...I don't like him either..."

The beast aimed to smash them with its bare hands, Sonic grabbed Ratchet and jumped out of the way.

"Alright. So this dude is big...that means he's strong." "No duh, Sonic." " But that also means he won't be as fast-" War Grok tried to punch them again, and they split up in both directions. "I take it back! He's still pretty fast!" Ratchet brought out his Contructo Bomb Glove, only to find that he only had five left. "What is wrong with me today?"

While Ratchet scramblec around in his inventory, Sonic was trying to avoid being hit. He managed to dodge one, and spindashed rivht to its left foot, tripping it. War Grok revovered quickly though. It then started to charge them again.

It this time jumped up high and began to slam its weight onto the ground. The force of impact sent all three guys into the air. Ratchet finally managed his ammo, and prepared. "Contructo Pistol, please don't short out." In midair, he blasted the War Grok at its chest, as it did little damage. Sonic used that to speed to the ground auickly and use a homing attack on its head. Ratchet did the samd thing, when he was descending he whackex it on the head with his Omniwrench. They both landed on their feet.

"Do you think that did it?" Ratchet asked. The War Grok got back up and readied another slam. "If by it, you mean piss him off? Then yes, we definitely did that." Sonic said quietly. He then dashed at the beast and uppercutted it with force. The impact made it stagger, but it regained bslanced pretty quick too. "Man that is one tough-" He was headbutted right into the ground. That calls for a severe headache.

"Ah...dang...Ratchet...I may be a little disoriented..." It charges them once again, and Ratchet thought fast by tossing a Constructo Bomb right at its face. It roared in pain, and staggered back. Ratchet sees this, and forms a plan. "Sonic, get him to slam the ground with power." "W-Why? What are ya up too?" "Trust me." Sonic got up weakly, and pointed. "Hey War Grok!" The beast looks at him. "Ya look like a shaved baboon with a serious skin condition! And I think it also jacked up your head a little bit!"

It charged at Sonic again and brought his fists to the ground. The three were again thrown into the air. Ratchet took his chance and tossed all of his remaining Contructo Bombs at the War Grok, and they exploded all at once. It couldn't withstand it, and it collapsed to ths ground.

The duo then sat in exhaustion. "Well...that's over with-" "Gladiators! You must kill the War Grok!" "Aw come on!" Seeing no other choice, the two moved in for the kill. But it lashed at them before they could get close.

"GAH! It was leading us into a false sense of security!" Sonic yelled. It was then that Qwark dashed by them, knocking Ratchet to the ground.

"Honorable lizard things! I understand your proud warrior ways. A once wiseman once told me-" While that was happening, the War Grok got back up and began chasing them again. "You must kill the War Grok! Or DIE!" Qwark flinched, but decides to continue.

"QWARK!" Ratchet and Sonic were pinned down, holding hack the War Grok's teeth. "In case you wanted to know, this thing is trying to eat us!"

"These boys are young. They do not understand that being a hero is 45% strength, 60% bravery, and 10% of raw intelligence!"

"IS THIS GUY RETARDED?!" Sonic yelled, kicking the beasts face.

"THAT'S 115 PERCENT!" Ratchet also yelled, holding it back with his wrench.

"Your welcome. Please, take ME instead! All I ask is that you name sonething impressive in my honor! Perhaps a school! Or a food court!" Qwark said.

"SERIOUSLY! IS THIS GUY RETARDED?!" Sonic yelled again.

"THERE'S A CERTAIN CHANCE OF YES! YES HE IS! Ratchet yelled, still holding the beast back. The crowd then began cheering for Qwark.

"By the blade of Argos, you have honored us! You are a true hero!" The announcer said. No one noticed that the boys were thrown across the arena, crashing into the ground again. "Ah! My foot!" "Gah! My tail!"

They got back up, only to witness something weird.

"Who's a good War Grok? You are! Yes you are! I'm going to name you Snowball!"

Sonic sweatdropped. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Yep. Sonic...you have officially met Captain Qwark." Ratchet deadpanned. Silence...

"Ratchet...I don't like him."

"Like I said, I don't like him that much either. Let's just pick up that Nefarious Security Card we were promised and get out of here...I need to lie down..."

Back with Aphelion, the guys made it there, and saw her completely untouched. "Oh thank goodness she's still here. I thought someone would have stolen her behind my back. There are those kind of people here..."

_Honestly, you shoukd have more faith in me Ratchet. I proved to be quite capable of taking care if myself. Just look over there. _The duo looked behind them, and just stared. Two Agorians were covered in ash, and they looked pretty injured.

"She torched us with hiddwn flamethrowers when we tried to steal her...it burns...it burns so much..." The guys stared at them for a couple more seconds then looked at each other.

"Alister said Zanifar, right?"

"Let's move." They boarded the Aphelion and head out for space. Unknown to them, a hidden figure watched them leave, with a fascinated look in thier eyes.

_"Sonic?" _

* * *

**_There we go! Another chapter finished! There were multiple glitches, but I got it done. Reviews, Favorites, and Follows are helpful and are appreciated._**

**_Until next time!_**


	5. Discoveries And Risks

Aphelion was just heading above the atmosphere of Zanifar. The guys were warned by Alister that Vorselon was doing an entire galaxy sweep just to look for them. Alister said that he'd lead them far aware of their location so they would have time to find information on Orvus. Clank seemed awfully serious about it. And there's something he said about a time portal on the planet.

"Hey Ratchet. You think Orvus is...I don't know...around?" Ratchet kept his focus on landing on the planet. "Clank said Orvus disappeared two years ago, so that's when we gotta find him. Be sure to brace, we're about to land." Aphelion was coming to the landing station.

_My sensors indicate an unfamiliar anomaly, just like on Planet Quantos. _"Don't worry about it, you're setting this one out." Ratchet said. The guys hopped out of Aphelion and braved the cold. "Oh great, it's a snowy planet. That's what we need." Sonic said, noted sarcasm. Ratchet lead the way. _Alright Clank. So where is this time portal? _

They came across one of Nefarious' tower, and Ratchet used his Swingshot to, you know...swing to the other side. Sonic merely jumped a far distance to the other side. Ratchet equipped his Constructo Pistol as the drones came in through the entrance. "There is still so much security after two years...why?" It didn't really matter to him or Sonic. Two shots were all it took. Because he set it to Ricochet and it blew right through all of their heads.

"Haha! Every time!" They continued through the small tower. There wasn't as many enemies as Ratchet originally thought. "Yo Ratchet! Over here!" Sonic found another exit, and they both followed through it. What they came across was a containment base for the captured Fongoids. Apparenty Nefarious was keeping them prisoner after they figured out their folly.

"Praise Orvus...a Lombax! Have you come to rescue us, erh?" "What happened here?" "Dr. Nefarious. He tricked us into helping him build this outpost. After we've outlived our usefulness, he locked us up in this containment camp. Its all being controlled by that guard tower up there. Please, help us."

"Well that shouldn't be so hard-"

_Intruders detected in containment wing. Please stand by for annihilation. _Ratchet facepalmed. "How is it that we didn't notice that?" Sonic gave him a look, and he tried again. "How is it that I didn't notice that?" Sonic then looked somewhere else. "I don't know for sure...but I have a feeling that we need to destroy all the robot guards to shut down one of these shields so we can get farther ahead." Seeing very few options, the two spread out and started taking out all the robots in the area.

That was harder than it looked, because those disk shaped spaceships were spawning more enemies every few minutes. Ratchet had to shoot it out of the sky with the Negotiator...while trying to reload it...while being shot at. Ratchet decided that his Blizzard Gloves were to be used in a snowy climate anyway. He set them in various areas around the field, as they froze numerous bots in place. Sonic then smashed right through them with speed.

There was still a numerous amount of enemies in the surrounding areas, so it was on their to-do list to just find a way out of the area without being shot full of holes...again. Ratchet equipped his Constructo Shotgun and set it to Lance. The bright red bullets blasted right through those bots, as they rushed towards the downed force field. Ratchet and Sonic safely made it to the other side, as the robots stupidly ran right into it, destroying them. Waiting on them was another Fongoid. He seems to have escaped that detainment camp.

"You scared me! I thought you were one of the troops! I have escaped that containment field for quite some time now. They've been looking for me ever since. But it seems that I can't get back home. You guys mind helping me out?" The guys looked at one another and nodded. "Let's go. The quicker we do this the better." Ratchet said. "And maybe we'll be able to find a way to bring that field down. We have to get to that portal." He was looking up towards the control tower. "Won't be too easy though. The place has gotta be locked up tight, to keep guys like us from getting funny ideas."

Sonic groaned at their current path. "Stupid ivy. If there is that freakin' ivy...then there's probably Tetramites too." "How do you know that?" "Call it a feeling in my quills. Something else I remember, my quills have never failed me yet. Maybe..." Ratchet wasn't at ease from that statement. "Look, I'll cut you a break. Hand me the Omnisoaker, I'll deal with the nest." Ratchet reluctantly handed him the gadget. "Are you sure you're good enough?" "What do you mean? You're coming with me." Ratchet sighed. "Didn't think so." Sonic merely hopped over to the little nectar plant, and sucked it into the Omnisoaker. "Alright then, Ratchet. Get that bridge operated. I'll distract those Tetramites." "Oooookay then."

Ratchet hopped over to the crank and begin turning it with his Omniwrench. The Tetramites were being kept busy by Sonic covering the corners of the platform with nectar. Ratchet finished completing the bridge, as Sonic tossed him the Omnisoaker and then shot the vines. The insects swarmed the vines, and they eventually retreated back into the walls. The three then made their way past it.

"Wow! An Omnisoaker! Thanks! Let's keep moving before they find us. You know, this was all farmland and gardens, but all of that stopped when Dr. Nefarious showed up. Yet...I can't remember why..."

Sonic was somewhat angered. "Why can't this guy get a life of his own? Instead of messing with everyone else's lives?" Ratchet shrugged. "Ya wanna know why? Didn't you hear that intercom thing? His mom thinks he is an utter disappointment." "Sheesh. When your mom gives up on you...that stings...quite a lot...Hey let's ride that conveniently placed vine." Shrugging, they both jumped on top of the vines and grinded along it. They had to jump several platforms that are very spaced out in the open lake. It took Ratchet quite a bit of jumping with his hoverboots, and Sonic was already a high jumper anyway.

They eventually reached the last tower in the are before the really big one. Sonic looked it over. "How are we supposed to get in side?" Ratchet held the Security Card in his fingers, giving Sonic the "Duh" expression. Sonic chose to say nothing as the card was scanned. The door opened as the intercom said "Indentified Security Guard."

Before any reaction was given, Sonic has spindashed at high speeds and took out every enemy inside the tower. He speeded back to Ratchet, who nodded.

"Nice."

Now Ratchet had a clear path to the computers. Ratchet is not a big genius like Al or Clank, but he knew straight up he was smarter than Sonic. Not that the latter minded that much.

"Now let's see...deactivating containment field...and voilà! Not only are the Fongoids free and safe, but we get a clear path to the time portal! Let's get movin' Sonic!"

"Alright then!"

The two jumps down to the ground, and stood in front of the portal. Neither was afraid, just curious. Sonic felt this kind of feeling was very familiar. But there's nothing he could do right now except stand by Ratchet.

"Alright Sonic, let's get this over with." With their minds (kinda) clear, they hopped into the portal.

**Tombli Outpost: Two Years Ago...**

They stayed on their feet, and looked around. Then there was shock.

"Ratchet?"

"Yeah?"

"This outpost was pretty much freezing, right? How come there is so much sunshine?"

"Its Two years ago dude. But yeah...that is a crazy change..." They saw that all the Fongoids here were fine...except they are not fine. Their eyes looked like they were in some deep trance. And they were building Nefarious' tower?! Wait...they were told this. But now maybe they can figure out why-

_Doctor Nefarious is NOT a disappointment, as his mother once suggested._

They stood in silence after that, not that surprised. Ratchet was right after all. "Okay..." They decided to walk around the small village, trying to find some answers.

"If I was down to my last piece of gum, and Dr. Nefarious wanted to have it, I would give him the gum." Ratchet sighed.

"Dr. Nefarious, can be trusted." Sonic facepalmed.

"Dr. Nefarious, is NOT evil." They both groaned.

"A day without Dr. Nefarious is a day without sunshine." Sonic kicked the ground. "That's just him being a loser! Especially if he needs to trick others into saying it!"

"I don't think its that kind of trick, Sonic. They gotta be brainwashed, there's no other way..." Ratchet decided to ask the Fongoid at the start of the bridge into the unfinished watchtower.

"Hello there, visitors! Are you here to help us build the outpost? We were about to build the bridge, but the winch crank rusted up." Ratchet took a chance to speak.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Nothing we can do, not for a while. We'll just have to wait for the oil rig to start up so we could fix it." Ratchet looked at Sonic. _The present. Omnisoaker and oil. Plan formed. _The hedgehog nodded, he somehow understood the message. But first...

"I can't help but wonder...why would you help Dr. Nefarious?"

"Why?! WHY?! Because...Because a day without Dr. Nefarious is a day without sunshine." The heroes sighed. Not that many were useful here. They needed to find a way to reach the oil rig. Even Sonic saw that it was tough to reach.

"Hi visitors!" Another fellow Fongoid made an appearance. Sonic tried to be polite. "Heeey guy...whatcha doin'?"

"Well I was planting these vines in the soil, when I suddenly wanted to stop. Then I decided to go on and help our other visitor. Have you met Dr. Nefarious yet? He's so great, and wonderful!"

Ratchet was smiling. However his mental self wanted to slap the Fongoid silly, and yell SNAP OUT OF IT! But he resisted. "Any way we can help?"

One explanation on planting later...

They didn't waste time, so Sonic grabbed three seeds and spread them to the other soil spots. "Now what? It takes years for these to grow." Ratchet pointed to the time portal with a know at all look. "I gotta get smarter than this..." Sonic groaned.

**Back to the Present! **

They made it back...just in time to see the Fongoids beating the crap out of Nafarious' forces. Looks like they came in on a good day. With the enemies distracted, they went right past them.

"Alright, two years should be enough to make the vine super long. So..." Ratchet was right. The vines around the area were huge and long, and it was perfectly grindable. "Yes! Now we can just grind our way into the oil rig and get us some oil!"

Ratchet and Sonic jumped onto the extended vine, and rode a long rideto the oil rig. They saw below them, the Fongoids taking back their terf. Using their magic staffs or something to blast them back, or completely obliterate them. It was painfully(not really) clear that they were winning.

Ratchet hopped right onto the rig's platform, and used his Constructo Pistol to shoot one not right in its glass head. Sonic hops right after him and kicks the same one into the water. They both saw the Fongoids locked behind a gate.

Ratchet charged forth, throwing a Constructo bomb to keep them distracted, as they didn't notice that Sonic speed through the smoke and leg sweeped the one with wheels. Sonic proceeded to roundhouse kick the one behind him, and the trooper was knocked into the water. Ratchet bashed another one's head with his wrench. The glass on it cracked, and he pushed it off the platform.

That was pretty much very easy or the two to progress, as that was the key to lowering the gates that held the Fongoids back. Ratchet equipped his Omnisoaker and sucked out the oil from another source. He sprayed it onto the rusted winch, then proceeded to turn it with his wrench, and the bridge was formed so the Fongoids could escape the oil rig. Sonic has bounced onto two small bots along the bridge, and threw them both against a rock. They then walked back to the time portal with their acquired oil source.

**Back to the past...**

The two onece again appeared into the past, where the Fongoids were still brainwashed, unfortunately. It was a shame, since there are some things you just can't change.

Ratchet just unrusted the rusted winch, and turned it with his wrench again. As he kept turning, the bridge to the control tower extended, until it completely connected to the other platform ahead of them. With that out of the way, they went into the tower seemingly undetected.

They were very much detected.

There was flurry of open fire, as Ratchet took cover and Sonic was right behind him.

"Well that's just great! How'll we find Orvus now?" Sonic yelled.

"Keep your cool dude. Orvus should be just ahead, along was Nefarious. Why else would all this security be at the very first door?" Ratchet tried to explain.

"Maybe he sucks at organization?"

"...True."

Ratchet had to equipped Plasma Striker, and signaled Sonic to create a small distraction for him to get a clear shot at them. So Sonic stepped out of cover when they stopped firing.

"I give! You win! I surrender!" The bots were confused for a moment, not noticing Ratchet took aim. He made it steady, and fired from the cover. One bot was down for the count. They freaked out a little.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing really. Whatever do you mean?" Ratchet took another shot, as the nexnot went down quickly. They were freaking out more, as Sonic tapped his foot. "What are you waiting to? Aren't you going to capture me or something?" Ratchet fired at the last two, and they went down easy.

Sonic looked up. "No? I didn't think so." Right when he said that, more enemies teleported into the room. Ratchet was about to speak.

"Don't say it."

Ratchet switched to the Negotiator and fired three rockets. Apparently they dodged all three with no problems. But that's when Sonic used homing attack in rapid succession, knocking them into the walls, where they were again obliterated by the Negotiator.

There were more enemies teleported into the room, and they knew that they didn't have time for this. Orvus was top priority.

"Sonic.I'm gonna do things old school. (Holds out ball) And I mean by smoke bomb!" Tossing it into the ground, smoke immediately filled the room. Unfortunately these robots weren't built with visors that see through smoke. Luckily Ratchet does. So he let Sonic grab his Omniwrench and pulled him towards the elevator. The drones were too late, the guys were already heading upwards.

A few minutes passed, and they made it to another floor. They moved forward, trying their best to stay quiet. Orvus should be on this floor. "So, Ratchet? Where's-"

"Hold on Sonic. I hear something over in the next room..."

_You twit! You told me this would work! _

_I...I don't know what's happening. We should have found it by now. He must've erased his own memory._

_Time is a gift, and not to be tampered with. _They saw Orvus locked in some sort of capsule. He looked really weak. Nefarious approached him again.

_This is your last chance Orvus. How do I get into the chamber?! _

_You are making a mistake. The clock is not a time machine._

That didn't seem to be a good answer, as Nefarious immediately ordered his sonic weaponry to blast at Orvus. He seems to be holding out. _There is only one who enter MY chamber. And he is safe, far away from you! _The waves continue to surge through him, until the light became blinding, and he vanished completely.

"What?! Where is he?! Where did he go?!"

"I-I don't know sir! But we seem to have detected a visual imagein his memory right before he vanished." The image showed up on screen, and there was-

"Clank?!" Ratchet's outburst gave away their position.

"You!"

_Ah crud! _Sonic thought. Ratchet carried a Constructo Bomb in his hand. "Sonic! Window!" In no time at all, he tossed the bomb, and it exploded right near Nefarious' face, and Sonic busted through the window with his spindash. Ratchet soon followed after him, dodging the ensuing laser fire.

* * *

They made it back to the present in one piece, just making it back towards Aphelion. The Fongoids seem to be doing fine without their help. They can take care of the remains of Nefarious' forces.

"I guess that's what happened to Orvus. He just vanished in mid-air. No trace of him anywhere." Ratchet said. "Wonder what Clank is gonna think of this?" He then realized that Sonic was not responding to any of this.

"Orvus said that the clock is not meant to be a time machine...that means we can't use it even when we find it. The danger of using it for just that can't seem to leave my mind." Ratchet could see where Sonic was implying.

"Look...if the clock is that dangerous...then I won't do it. I'll just pick up Clank and leave."

"But that's what i'm concerned about." Now Ratchet was confused. "If Clank plays a major role in this, then I doubt it will be that easy. Plus...if it really is not meant to be a time machine...how do we explain that to Alister?" Now Ratchet got it. Alister was very dependent on this, while he was beginning to doubt the benefits of it. But then something else came to mind...

"Where is Alister anyway? I know he expects me to take awhile, but he should have contacted me by now."

_Incoming Transmission._

Aphelion received a message just for Ratchet, and he decided to play it through. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

_"Greetings, young Lombax." _Ratchet silently cursed himself for jinxing it, the one thing he hates to do on a mission. Vorselon was on the screen. _"I think I have come across something that belongs to you." _He revealed the capsule behind him.

"General!"

_"it is a dark day when one is tasked with half the galaxy's Lombax population. I assure you I only act out of contractual obilgation."_

"Ratchet! Don't listen to him! Find the Clock-GAH!" Alister was being tortured bh a shock of lightning.

_"Only one Lombax need perish tonight. I'd happily postpone the execution." _

"Hold on. This guy's bothering you two?" Sonic said curiously. Vorselon finally noticed. _"Your friend looks interesting. Maybe I can skin him and patch him on my walls!" Sonic only blinked, then smiled._

"Lord Dumbass says what?"

"What?"

"HA! You fell for it!" The green head only growled in frustration.

_"As I was saying, I've uploaded coordinates to your ship. Better hurry." _He broke the camera he was looking into. Ratchet and Sonic looked at each other.

"We're gonna have to postpone the Clock visit, aren't we?"

"We have to save him Sonic. We can't do this on our own." Sonic sighed.

"Alright. He's part of the team. Let's go get him." With that, Aphelion took off, as Ratchet began to track the coordinates to Vorselon's Warship.

* * *

**Vorselon's Warship **

Aphelion landed near the hangar of the ship. Ratchet and Sonic immediately hopped out, ready to board. Sonic took a good look around the ship, seeing how huge it is and how advanced it looks. Even though he doesn't really understand any of it. So why does he feel like he's seen bigger and better?

Ratchet meanwhile had his air helmet on, still somewhat jealous that Sonic can breathe in space without one. That would make many things so much easier. But there is no time for that right now.

"We're here. Let's go rescue the General!" They approached the hangar doors, which opened automatically for them, and they saw that Vorselon's forces have already mobilized against them. Maybe it won't be so easy. No one thought it would be easy.

They didn't even ask for a surrender, they just started firing at them in random directions like idiots. The guys knew that words were not needed. The Lombax equipped his Negotiator, as Sonic stood by, ready to charge when need be.

He fired rockets at the first two mechs that stood by the door, and destroyed them with ease. The next wave of enemies were already spawning into the room. Ratchet threw five Storm Spikes right at the entrance, then stood back.

As they suspected, the drones were dumb enough to try and get closer to them for attack. As a result, many of them were shocked immensely with electric power leaping off of all of them. It destroyed the smaller enemies with extreme ease. The ones remaining at the door were simply knocked away and blown up by Sonic's homing attack.

More drones were teleported into the room, so Ratchet equipped Constructo Bomb and set it to the Shockwave mod. He threw multiple bombs into the area to clear out the smaller drones. They were blown in both directions by the ensuing blast. He then set it to Explosion mod and threw them at both sides, destroying the rest of the remaining enemies.

After that, two bigger mechs walked into the room, with heavy guns at the ready. Sonic saw his chance, and rushed one before it even tried to attack them. A fast kick to the glass made it fall over and malfunction, clearly no longer a threat. He then threw a punch at the mechs head, but it sidestepped at the last moment. But a lazer went straight through its head, and it fell apart in a smoldering heap.

Ratchet blew the smoke off the tip of his Plasma Slayer, smirking at his precise shot. Sonic came by and high-fived him. "Nice! He zigged-"

"-when he shoulda zagged. Never gets old. C'mon. Let's keep going."

The hangar cleared, they accessed the next room. It was full of Swingshots and buttons that activate the door to the next room. No need to go together, they simply split in to directions to press to different buttons, as Sonic used far jumps across the room. And Ratchet turned cranks so he would have further acess to the swingshot points, and pressed another button. They met up at the middle and went into the elevator behind the doors.

To ease the tension, elevator music was being played as they went down. Ratchet somewhat recognized it.

"Didn't think Vorselon was a fan of Courtney Gears...now I feel less guilty about destroying her...huh..." Sonic looked at him in confusion.

"Its bad enough that I don't get most of the technology around here, and now this? Your universe is weird, Ratchet."

"Oh dude, join the club."

The elevator finally stopped, Ratchet restocked at a local vendor, and went for the next room. In the center of it was Vorselon, as expected.

"You lasted longer than I expected. Azimuth has taught you well."

"Cut the crap man. We just want him back. We don't have to fight. While that would be pretty fun, i'd rather not." Sonic said.

"What he said. Where is he, Vorselon?"

"Let's see...now where would I put him? There's the torture chamber, the day spa...tell you what. Defeat me and _maybe _i'll tell you."

Sonic shook his head. "No way man. Because when you lose you're just gonna run away like a wuss and not tell us anything. Just like..."

"Qwark?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah. And don't tell me you won't, because you would do sonething like that because you're the enemy. And...you just suck. You eould suck for being a total wuss by running away. Just watch."

"I probably won't, because I would be busy winn-AH!" Ratchet hit him in the head with his wrench, and the glass cracked a little bit. "Hey! I wasn't ready!"

"And I wasn't caring. We're even." Ratchet said Vorselon growled and charged at him.

He sent electric shockwaves after him, and Ratchet dodged every one with one huge backflip. And he was taking that chance to fire multiple Buzz Blades at him. It barely scratched the armor. "Ha! Weak!"

Ratchet had placed a sticky bomb on Vorselon's back without his realization, and it exploded behind him with great force. He crashed into the ground, now starting to feel pain again. "Hey! That's cheating!"

"Once again, I hardly see how that's _my _problem."

Vorselon grew angrier, and hastily threw a bolt of lightning at Sonic. "Let's see what happens when I attack your friend!" When he looked back to his intended target, Sonic was gone.

"What the- GAH!" Ratchet fired his Nefotiator rockets at Vorselon's back, and he recoiled from the immense damage.

"Dude, this isn't even a fight. That's how better we are than you. Just tell us where Alister is." Ratchet said impatiently. "Because we already won." Vorselon was confused.

"You are obviously very confused. Because I still stand before you, about to crush yiu into little tiny fluffs of Lombax coat!" Ratchet only folded his arms. "Sonic?"

"What-HUAH!" Vorselon never noticed that Sonic sped right behind him, and blew a hole through the middle of his metal suit with a spindash and it exploded in a small flame. It all happened in a dramatic slow-mo type action. (Great, now we sound like Qwark...) But Vorselon's head was still intact, and was escaping with his helmets jet-like tiny rockets.

"Lord Vorselon cannot be defeated!" Sonic only shook his head again.

"What did I tell you?! WUSS! Ha...anyway...how do we find Alister?" Ratchet looked at the appraoching elevator. "I think that may help us." Sonic didn't initially believe it, but trusted Ratchet anyway.

And he was right to do so. Because in the next floor of the second elevator, the elder Lombax was in the cage attached to the ceiling. Sonic sweatdropped. "You gotta be kidding...talk about a design flaw! Who puts enemy confinement right above their living room?" That didn't seem to be anybody's concern right now. Right now, Alister was surprised.

"Ratchet? Sonic? What are you two doing?!"

"Relax. Rescue missions are kinda my thing. Now...how do I lower the containment field?" Alister sighed at the younger ones' persistence.

"These cables must lead to somewhere. Follow them and destroy the containment generators." The boys nodded and looked at each other.

"You go thst way, I go the other wsy, thej meet back here to destroy the final one." Ratchet planned out.

"Right!"

With that, Sonic sped in one direction, as Ratchet ran towards another. He entered a long hallway filled with plenty of Swingshot spots. And below them...a VERY long way down.

Keeping his focus, he lept forward, and grappled the first Swingshot, then he went for the next, and the one after, untik he eventually reached the generator.

Of course robots would be guarding the generator, so Ratchet switched to the Negotiator, and fired rapidly at the remaining wnemies, destroying them all in mere moments. He used the last rocket to destroy said generator.

With that done, he made his way back tk Alister's containment cell by Swingshot. But once he nearly goofed, and almozt fell into the space abyss. Luckily he grabbed right onto the ledge at the last possible moment. He quickly pulled himself up. "Woah! Too close!"

He made his way back to the room, with Sonic waving at him. "I saved you the trouble of destroying one, so I destroyed them both. Your welcome."

"Oh ha ha. I'm very grateful." Ratchet used his Omniwrench to pull out the bolt keeping the cage intact, and Alister was officialyy free. Was he happy? For some reason...no.

"We know, it was touch and go for a while, but my old Lombax instinct kicked in and-"

"You fool. I told you to leave me. You shouldn't have come back!" He pratically yelled at Ratchet with a huge amount of disapproval in his voice. It made Ratchet feel uneasy.

But then, Sonic calmly walked in front of Ratchet, and looked up at Alister with disapproval in his eyes as well. The elder Lombax was taken aback, as Sonic's eyes said: _Take another step. I dare you. _Seeing that he wasn't backing down, Alister simply backed off.

"That didn't sound like a thank you, General. In fact, it almost sounded as if you were mad at Ratchet for taking time out to save your life. What ever happened to never leave a soldier behind? We got what we needed, there's no reason to snap at him."

"Sonic's right. It's nkt like we've been doing nothing but sitting around all day. We went back in time, found out what happened to Orvus, and-"

"Back in time?! When?! How far?!" Alister seemed suddenly very interested in the subject. Unfortunately they didn't have a response. More clearly, a respinse that he would like.

"Not...far enough." The elder sighed. He was making Ratchet feel guilty for finding answers. "It's just...we're the only ones that can fix the past. (Puts hand on latter's shoulder) I'm proud of you Ratchet." Few moments after he said that, the alarm sounded.

"I don't know about you guys, but that's our cue to leave." Sonic said, pointing at the door. The others nodded, and rushed for the elevators. It was stange to see that there were very few guards.

"They must have saved the heavy artillery for when we reach the hangar. Stay vigilent." Alister said to them, who nodded in agreement.

It seems that they were right. Afyer a seemingly calm stroll to the hangar, it was filled with enemies in every direction, every space, every hole. Ratchet sighed.

"That's insane...I have no choice." With that, he went through his equipment, and pulled out something that Alister was shocked by greatly.

"You have a RYNO?! Where in the name of Orvus did you get that?!"

"When you promise an Agorian something...they know how to pay you back. They paid me back with this. Crazy, right? I'm gonna use all the ammo at once, so let's get out of the way, alright?" Nodding in slight fear, the General took cover and focused on opening the doors. Ratchet locked onto the platoon, and pulled the trigger.

In a few minutes...there was nothing but ash and smoke. Ratchet dropped the weapon, as it has gotten very hot from nonstop use. So hot, it actually exploded! "Aw man! Now I gotta look all over the galaxy for a new one!" Sonic meanwhile was impressed. "You really put the "F" in firepower, dude!"

With that chaos over, the guys returned to their respective ships.

"Maintaning radio clearance. Everything seems to be clear...thanks for saving an old Lombax, Ratchet. That goes for you as well Sonic. You're alright." Alister flew away into space, as the boys got ready to follow him to thwir next location. Sonic then realized something.

"He didn't truly trust me before, did he?"

"Nope."

* * *

**At The Great Clock...**

It has been seriously confusing. It has been mind-bogglingly fun. There were even times that Sigmund had too much awkwardness kept in his hardrive and they were spweing to the surface. But they finally made it. Clank was ready.

Before that, Clank was making sure that Tails was feeling safer knowing that Sonic was alive yet not by his side. Until they were reunited, Clank wouldn't leave Tails alone for any reason at all. He made sure the kitsune was comfortable with him by his side. Also...there wss that message that the Plumber gave him in the Mnenomic Station Iota: _I wouldn't risk anymore than six minutes. _

Clank did not know what that meant, but he did know that it would come to reel its ugly head in the future. Until then, the Orvus Chamber and Tails were his main concerns. "Tails? Are you sure you are alright?"

"Just fine, Clank. Go ahead and do it." With his mind now calm, Clank oressed the button on the floor. Sigmund stood bu the entrance.

"Well...this is it. Behind this door, lies the switch to the entire system. A-hem. X-J0461, on behalf of Orvus in accordance to his wishes, I present to you, the Orvus Chamber!" With that, the symbol in the middle of the door was forming Clanks head, the eyes glowed green, and the doors were opened. This is it.

With a strong mindset, they all stepped forth, walking into said chamber. The room was massive, which was strange to Tails. Because its the biggest room in the facility and all that is in here is a switch to the entire universe. Could have at least installed another screen in here...but no one was complaining.

"Here it is. Your father went to great lengths to protect this chamber from those who would abuse it."

_Control terminal activated. _

"He loved you very much, you know. He was always "XJ0461 this" and "XJ0461 that. I'm supposed to play this for you. It's sort of an orientation message." Sigmund typed in something on the archives, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. Orvus has appeared on it.

"Hello, XJ0461. Or should I say "Clank?" Here in this very chamber, I watched over time. And now thst you understand the power of the Clock, I ask that you protect it at all costs. Because even the slightest misuse of it's power can rip apart the fabric of existence. The clock...much like time itself, is a gift, and not to be tampered with." Silence.

"But...like any father, my only wish-" Before the program finished, something shut it down. Sigmund and Clank turned around. Ah crap...its Lawerence.

"I'm sorry, were you in the middle of something?"

"Intruders! Protect the chamber!"

Too late. He threw a bomb of some sort, and the robots werw suddenly unconscious...

* * *

Tails was meanwhile hiding in one of the farthest corners of the next door, very much frightened. He saw that Clank's orientation was going just fine, and then a second later, he was captured. Tails was going to cry again. With Sigmund also unconscious, he didn't know what to do.

"This...this shouldn't be...Clank was one of the reasons I made it so far in the Clock. Now I have no guide...what do I do? If only Sonic were here...he'd no what we could do." But Sonic was still far away, no one was going to help him.

**_"Arise, young one." _**

Tails suddenly stood up, looking around him. "What was that?!"

_**"Arise, young one. Your assistence is very much needed."**_After a few moments, Tails saw the source of the sounds. Three Zoni were floating behind him. He never realized it, but they were almost his height.

_**"You must move forward. You must help our sire."**_Tails blinked. "Sire? You mean Clank?"

_**"Yes. Only sire must access Orvus Chamber. Sire is in dire need of your help."**_Tails wasn't sure on what to do. "But...how?"

The Zoni began gathering energy, and something small apoeared in the middle of them. "_**T**__**his is one of mystic gems from your world. Use it to reunite with friend. You must help to save sire. Only he must access to chamber. No one else!"**_Tails grabbed the object they presented him, and looked at it in shock. It glowed a bright yellow. He then looked back up.

"A...a Chaos Emerald?" The Zoni said no more, for they have vanished already. Tails took a long look at the gem in his hands. This was his chance. This may help get some of Sonic's memories back. But in order to do that, he'd have to find him first. And the only way he could do that is to make sure that the heroes actually take the bait. He'd knew it'll be risky, but he will have to become a stowaway on the Valkeryies leader's ship.

Because if he wants to see Sonic again, he has to stay close to Clank, no matter what the risks were.

* * *

**Didn't really feel like making a introduction. Sorry. Review, Favorite, Follows, I appreciate them all, very much. I thank those who have done so already.**


	6. Not Quite The Reunion We Wanted

**Hi! Another chapter, up and running! Heroes are finally reunited! Now they can proceed more efficiently! (Hopefully...)**

**Let us begin!**

* * *

**Meanwhile in the Bernilius Sector..**.

Aphelion exited hyperjump and the guys entered the Bernilius Sector. This is the last area that they will be able to check out. A trace of Clank was found here, so they came here immediately. Sonic noticed that in this Sector, there was a lot of crystals flying around this part of space.

"Ratchet. You think we'll find Clank around here?"

"This is the only lead that we can latch onto, Sonic. We have to at least looking around here. And since there's only one real planet here, it shouldn't be too difficult to-hold on. Transmission from Alister."

"Boys? Come in. I just picked up a looping transmission on one of the emergency frequencies. Tell me what you think of this."

There was some sort of wavy sound emitting through the sensor.

"No way. That's a distress call with Clank's signature. Aphelion, can you track the source?"

_The origin appears to be planet Vapedia. Acquiring coordinates now._

" Just think! By tonight your friends will be safe and the clock will be ours. I'll meet you there as soon as I can!" End transmission from Alister. Zyphoids tried to hinder his progress, so he used his

"Can you believe it Sonic? We're almost there! We just gotta get to Planet Vapedia, get our friends out, and we're out in no time. Easy!"Sonic was not that easily convinced.

" Am I the only one who caught the "distress" part? That has to mean that he's in some sort of trouble. Either that, or there's a trap waiting for us...i'm betting on both." Ratchet never even thought about that. Here he was, so excited for the moment, he never considered the possibility of a trap. But even so...

"What choice do we have? If both our friends really are on there, we have to take the chance. Besides, its not like the conspirators are gonna pop up othe screen-"

"Bonjour, Monsuer Lombax." The screens volume was a little too high, and it really hurt their ears.

"GAH! SON OF A QWARK! TOO LOUD!" He lowered the volume to a suitable level, and rested his ears for the moment. "How did she even do that?!" When he looked up, he saw another Valkyrie fleet waiting for them. Ratchet sighed. "And of course, Sonic's right. Why not?"

"I see you've picked up on our little signal. Unfortunately, this is as far as you go!" Carina most likely.

Ratchet now frustratingly rubbed his head. "And of course its their signal! It really was a trap! That's bad for them, because I'm not patient enough right now to deal with this."

Carina's fleet was mobilizing around the space they were in. They put up some electrical field around that huge space so that no one tries to leave. That only makes things easier for Ratchet. He really doesn't have the patience for this. Clank was in reach, he wasn't about to let them hinder that any longer.

"Is this about your sister? If it is, you should know that she seriously had it coming to her." Sonic said.

"She was only doing her job!"

"I sincerely doubt that killing off your opponent is an honest job, because you all aren't honest people!"

Fleet was already firing at them rapidly, Ratchet had to barrel roll Aphelion to properly dodge the assault. There was no chance that they were sneaking past now. Ratchet then summons up a counterattack. "Sonic?"

Blue hedgehog opened the hatch. "Yep. My turn." He jumped out of Aphelion as Ratchet closed the hatch. He sees Sonic fly out into space, right for the enemy fighters. He will just have to aim at Carina right now.

For Sonic it was just as simple as last time. He flies through space, and when fighters approach him, he focused his homing attack in chains. When he destroyed the first one, all the others that were near it, he also tore apart. All of this was meant to give Ratchet a path of attack.

Ratchet was doing quite well though. Not one fighter could touch him. With each dodge he blasted many of them out of commission, and managed another laser blast to Carina's dropship. After Ratchet launched proton missiles at it, it put up a shield to timely defend from the blast. This left him extremely frustrated. However, there's someone on the inside who can help...

_**Inside Carina's dropship...**_

There was a cargo hold for various supplies needed for fighting and other things. But in one of the smallest ones, it was shaking up a little bit. And not because of the fighting going on inside. After a few seconds, it tipped over...and out came Tails.

"Owww..." He's been hiding in there ever since they hauled Clank away for Planet Vapedia. He had no other choice but to sneak on one of their ships. He was thinking of what he would do if they actually stopped. But now he has to think on not being caught behind enemy lines. He first began to stand on his two feet.

_I'm inside...now what should I do? _

Mantaining a stealthy approach, he began exploring through the ship. There weren't many Valkyries around, probably because they were outside trying(and utterly failing) to murder Ratchet. He took a guess, but they probably left their turrent defenses online, and unguarded.

Sneaking his way into the lower decks, he finds exactly what he needed. The turrent defenses were totally they thought they would succeed and didn't even have to manage them. _Guess they won't see this coming then. _

Making sure no one was watching him, he made his way over to the current console. He began typing in new commands for the turrents' target. 'Do not aim for scrawny Lombax. Aim for other Valkyries in search for toughness levels. They get blown up, they aren't warrior potential! Too bad so sad!' With those new commands in place, and locked, the turrents new coordinates were redone.

After a few moments, the turrents were now shooting at their own comrades with great efficiency. Its like that because unlike Ratchet, they don't do dodging. Well at least this will give Ratchet a chance to strike Carina uninterrupted. Now if he could just-

"Intruder! And he's...a MALE!"

_CRUD! _

Tails turns around fearfully to see three Valkyries standing at the doorway, with killer intent aimed at him. Thinking fast, he found something useful on a table nearby. He quickly made his way over there, and grabbed a little robot. He read the conveniently placed label on its back, and turned it on.

"Mr. Zurkon, activate." Reactivating the little synthenoid, it's eyes glowed, and its little hoverpack turned on, and little blaster at the ready.

"Mr. Zurkon is ready to kill."

Not really caring about the comment, he grabbed the next device he saw on the table. It was an old but still functional Liquid Nitrogen Gun. He then realized that Valkyries may be tough, but not that smart. He aimed it at the enemies.

"Stay back!"

They thought he was a bluff. "Please, boy. We see that fear in your eyes. You don't have the heart nor the stomach to kill anything! Admit it!" Tails' eyes, like the said Liquid Nitrogen Gun's personality, turned surprisingly cold.

"After what I've been through...I've somewhat gotten over that." The Valkyries attacked Tails, who immediately shot his weapon, streaming a bluish liquid. They were frozen in place, then they fell apart, turning to mere snow. Tails put the weapon down, sighing. It used up all of its remaining ammo. But he managed to find a decent looking Constructo Bomb Glove in another compartment. He eased it onto his hand.

"You kill with literal coldness...Mr. Zurkon is impressed with measly furball." Tails didn't really want to do any killing. But seeing Sonic so close by, and he's being hindered by potential killers, he didn't have many options. Besides, he owes it to Clank to go and help him.

"Mr. Zurkon...I'm making my way to the shield generators, help me clear a path." Tails kept his Bomb Glove on explosion, and made his way forward.

Any Valkyrie in his way was shot down by Mr. Zurkon. Any who survived were simply passed by Tails. Multiple doors got in his way, so Tails launched a bomb at them, then they'd explode and clear the way. He'd reach the final door he needed to get to, and he was surrounded by Valkyries.

"Don't worry measly furball, Mr. Zurkon has way to deal with stupid Valkyries." With that, he charged at the group, and automatically self-destructed, blowing away all the Valkyries. Tails in turn threw a Constructo Bomb at the door, and it immediately blew open. He walked in, and found the cackling blue shards of lightning. And the ships in the hanger. The hangar and the generators were in the same place.

_That's not very smart, because now I can do things like this! _

Tails found the nearest Valkyrie fighter ship that was operational, and hopped into it. Taking a few minutes of memorizing the controls, he made his move. He shot a proton blast at the first generator, and it burst in a heap of fire. _Thats one down..._

Unfortunately, he was sure he got attention from that little stunt, as the alarm was clearly hheard through the hangar decks. The Valkyries were coming from multiple doors in the room, effectively surrounding him and the vessel. Seeing even fewer choices, Tails made the ship fly in the small space, and open fired upon the warriors below. The blasts created sizable explosions that easily tore apart the small forces. Also with quickness, he shot a missile at the second and third generators, completely shutting down the shields to the ships.

Tails had one more thing to do. Before he flew off, he turned the ships, and launched missiles at all of the doors that lead to the hangar. They destroyed all of the doors, crashing down in them so that no one could follow him. Just for extra measure, he made sure to destroy every other ship in the hangar except for his own. When he was sure that it was enough, he used the ship to fly out into space.

**Back outside in space...**

It was safe to say that Ratchet did not expect for the dropship's own turrents to blast at their own fleet. Even more so as to when the shields went down practically out of nowhere. But he definitely wasn't complaining about it. Especially when he took the chance to strike at its bridge, causing the entire ship to come apart.

"No! This is impossible! Valkyries! Do not let them into the citadel! They cannot interfere with Nefarious' plan to-BAGH!" Carina couldn't finish, the ship has already been destroyed, in a vast of green smoke and debris. Sonic timely hopped back into Aphelion.

"Aphelion, give us a status update on Clank's signature."

_The coordinates seem to be accurate, but the signal's weakened by 72.3 percent. _

" That means he's in trouble. Hold in pal. I'm comin'. " With that mindset, Ratchet sped towards Planet Vapedia, where they are sure to find Clank and Tails.

**Somewhere around the Valkyrie Citadel...**

Tails apparently didn't expect himself hurtling the stolen ship down to the planet. He also didn't expect to be unable to correctly land the ship in time, proven by it was flipped over in the dirt. Miraculously, he was unharmed.

"Ow...my head...guess the high velocity was too much for the old thing..." He muttered to himself.

" Why lookie here, girls."

Unfortunately, he also forgot the fact that he's plunged himself even deeper into enemy territory. He dared himself to look upward. Yep. The Valkyrie supreme leader, Cassiopeia, was towering above the small fox, along with another gang of Valkyries. "Looks like this little _man _is a bit lost. And he also appears to be responsible for allowing Carina to get herself killed. Let's see...how can I punish that?"

Tails shivered in sudden fear. "Uh oh..."

**With the others... **

Aphelion landed in a small patch of grassland near the small citadel. Ratchet and Sonic hopped out, and took a careful look around. Alister was already here, as they all expected.

"Glad you're both here. Clanks signature seems to be emitting from somewhere inside the citadel. With all the guards expecting us, this calls for a classic smash and grab." As Alister lead the way, the other two just decided to follow.

Several Anthropods popped up and tried to attack all three of them. The Lombaxes simply used their wrenches to clear a way to their destination. Wasting time was a mistake. Weak enemies are powerful in numbers. Since Ratchet wasn't much of a skillful jumper like Sonic and Alister, there are times when he needed jump pads and ramps to progress forward.

Most enemies around here were giant freaky bugs or giant freaky fungus. They were all willing to take out both groups whenever they came across them threateningly. At one point, there had to be battery bots put back into their sockets in order to pass by the wide gaps.

Sonic went one way, and Ratchet used his hoverboots to go another way to retrieve them. Alister simply went on without them.

Sonic came across a swarm of Beegus Wasps, as they kept spitting acid at him. Not very helpful for them though. Sonic was able to dodge every strike they through at him. After a few more moments, he just decided to use a spindash to summon a powerful blast of win at them, and they were all cast away into the sky. After that, he caught the fleeing battery bot who was trying to escape.

Ratchet meanwhile used another hoverboot ramp to make his way over to the different piece of floating land to look for the other battery bot. He found it extremely convenient that the Valkyries just left these working for him to use. He doubted that they were able to use hoverboots though. Zyphoids tried to hinder his progress, so they were all hacked to pieces with his Doom Blades. After that quick wipeout, he nabbed the battery bot that also tried to get away.

Every time Ratchet did this kind of thing, he thought to himself: _Are you guys always on strike or something? Because actually doing your jobs can make my life SO much easier... _

When that business was done, the two put the battery bots in their places, and the ramps were put back up, and so were the jump pads. Now having a way across, Ratchet used his hoverboots to boost off the ramp, and bounced off each of the jump pads, as Sonic did the same without them. _  
_

They eventually caught up with Alister, and they moved onward to the citadel. The Valkyries did not know what they were there, so that was a chance to sneak inside. Unfortunately, the only way past is to blast their way through, so they had to attack them all anyway. Ratchet took the stealthy approach and took out three of them with the Plasma Slayer. All headshots. Sonic then asked a quick question for Alister.

"These Valkyries...are females...yet also robots...right?"

"That's right."

Sonic then smirked. "Good. Then I don't have to feel guilty about doing this!" At that call, he charged forth in a spindash formation, and used a homing attack chain. He powered through every one of the female robots blocking his way, in a wavy like pattern, right through their middle. After a few more seconds, they all exploded at the exact same time. He then landed on his two feet with no trouble.

Alister smirked in approval. "That's more like it!"

The door opened to them, and they found even more platforms they had to jump for. Only this time it looked as if they had to turn the bolt cranks in a specific order to be able to move foward. Ratchet being a mechanic, did not hesitate to take that role.

Ratchet really had to keep his focus, because they were completely in the skies, so there was no room for a complete screwup, like Qwark. After successfully passing by the gaps unharmed, they managed to finally make it to the entrance of the citadel. The Valkyries were lined up, and their leader was hovering above them with her little hover platform...turrent...thing.

"Well well well. If it isn't the galaxy's favorite Lombaxes, and extra. Come to rescue your little friend?"

_Did she just label me an extra?! _Sonic outraged in his mind.

" Our quarrel isn't with you, Cassiopeia. Hand over Clank and we'll cause no more trouble." Alister said.

"(Crazy Laughter) Cause no more trouble, huh? Carina and Libra are dead thanks to you! And now that we've gotten what we need from the caretaker, his time has come. Valkyries, destroy the Lombaxes!"

Sonic had his hand on his chin, as he tapped his foot. "I _just _noticed, but you seem somewhat...I dunno..._fatter _than the others. You're all robots. Is this just a design flaw? Or..." He gestured with a wavy hand, showing his confusion.

Cassiopeia was silent for a few moments. "I changed my mind. Valkyries, kill the blue one first." Sonic, for the first time today, looked nervous.

"Hey now! Can't you take a joke?" After backflipping three times to avoid laser fire, he got his answer. "I'll take that as a no. OK then."

"Stop joking around, Sonic! She's trying to kill Clank! I'm going after her!" Alister leapt after the hovercraft, as Ratchet and Sonic were left to deal with the other Valkyrie soldiers. They just HAD to get to Clank first. Not only is finding him super important, finding Tails is a just as important bonus. They had to have been imprisoned together.

Ratchet refused to let precious time be wasted on these goons, he used his Negotiator to clear a path to his neck destination. He's fired three missiles at a time, each of them completely demolishing one enemy after another. He and Sonic then stormed into the citadel.

As expected, many Valkyries were waiting for themon the other side. They instantly opened fire upon the duo. Ratchet used his Doom Blades to slash at all of the flying ones out of the sky. Their wings were slashed apart and they fell to their doom. Get it? Doom Blades? Sonic sped right into the next door, using speed to blast right past them with a burst of wind. _I'm really good at this wind thing! Was I always like this?_

Ratchet cleared the rest of the path with his Constructo Bomb Glove, blowing the rest of the Valkyries to pieces. After that, he followed Sonic to the other platforms to the other rooms. It was easy for the both of them to cross the big gap with multiple platforms. When they made it to the next room, they saw Cassiopeia on one of the railings in the room.

"What the?! You two got here quickly!"

"Yeah, not gonna lie...you Valkyries aren't as tough as I thought they were going to be." Sonic said calmly. Ratchet nodded. "He has a point."

"Well jokes on you! You just walked into our training course! No MAN has ever survived! Farewell Ratchet. Take solace in the fact that you never stood a chance." The machine that they were left with was spewing bombs left and right, in all of its sides.

Either it was a malfunction, or they were dumber than they thought. Because the whole explosion sequence wasquite slow. Slow enough to be able to toss the bombs right back at their attackers, using its own weapon against it. Sonic resisted the urge to say that was extremely easy. Trying to avoid a good jinxing here.

They made their way outside, more Valkyries on the guard. Ratchet again used his Doom Blades to cut the flying ones out of the skies. Then he used the Mag-Net Cannon to keep all of the ones on the ground in their place. The electric shocks managed to destroy them all. They once again hopped over numerous platforms in order to get to the next building.

There they found that seemingly overweight Valkyrie again.

"Still alive? Well, let's see how you survive a silo of deadly nerve toxin!" As she disappeared, the room started to fill itself with a green gas. All of a sudden, they felt their bodies begin to weaken considerably.

"Crud! That nerve toxin will kill us from the inside! We have to shut that thing off!" Sonic felt his knees begin to give in, and he also felt somewhat lightheaded. _Gah...need to press...all of those red buttons...that's gotta do something...right? _

Sonic managed to stand firmly, and ran over all the buttons that were currently lit. When the machine stopped for a moment, it started up again, spewing up gas again. He groaned, even more exhausted than before. He was still able to run, and press three buttons, with Ratchet using the hoverboots to press the others. When the machine shut down again, to the duo's serious annoyance, it started up again. Managing one more sprint, Sonic forced himself to press all of the buttons at once, then fell to the ground when the toxin was taking a serious effect. The gas finally ceased, and the duo began to breathe properly again, and fully stand up.

They simply repeated the process they did before. Any enemies that came their way, Ratchet clear the way with Negotiator and Constructo Bombs. Ratchet has gotten a habit to blow things that got in the way, Sonic was sure to stand clear. But other things weren't so clear. _Where's Tails? _

They reached the next room, with you know who at another railing.

"Hello boys. I see you have-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, we survived, another deathtrap, blah blah blah. You really should stop trying to be dramatic. Doesn't work." Sonic said. Now he was just annoyed with her.

"Hmph. You're no fun, you know that right?" Ratchet laughed at the short banter, which was short lived when ten battery bots have landed on the floor, which turned out to be glass. The glass began to crack, and the hatch below the glass opened.

Ratchet formed a plan. "Okay, so we need to place these battery bots in their sockets...without jumping too much...should be easy enough..." Sonic was through wasting time with this, he wanted to see Tails NOW. So with swiftness, he ran around the room, as a wind tunnel formed, and the battery bots were swept in it. When he stopped, all of them landed in the sockets at once, and the next door opened.

Ratchet's fur was ruffled from that performance. "You do realize that wind velocity could have completely shattered the glass? That's sounds like something I would have done with the Suck Cannon."

"I'm getting tired of these Valkyries, Ratchet. Our friends could still be in danger."

"You have a point there. I've lost my patience too. So let's just blast our way through whatever's left. Alister said that it shouldn't be too far away from Clank and Tails."

Sonic stood outside an elevator, while Ratchet looked around. "There's got to be a way to open these doors..maybe a switch?"

"No way man, we've taken too long already, theyall swarm over us at any moment. I got another idea." Sonic took plenty of paces back, and charged towards the door at high speed. The force of his blow blasted the doors wide open. He fell to the ground, rubbing his shoulder. "Okay...I admit it...using a switch would have been far less painful." Ratchet gave him a "no duh" look. He helped Sonic up, and the elevator was activated. They saw Cassiopeia once again.

"I'm actually happy you survived the training course. It would have been a shame to lose such worthy opponents to some cheap machine!"

"Speaking of cheap machines, how much is your boyfriend paying you to do his dirty work?" Ratchet said.

"A better question is, how much is _he _paying _you _to be his girlfriend? Was it just desperation? You both being total morons? Or..." Sonic asked.

"Quick tongue. And an amusing observation, coming from some orphan to spend his entire life alone! You know that robot of yours was ready to kick up his little feet and stay in the Great Clock forever! Yeah! He wants to leave you, didn't you know that? But don't worry, I'll kill you both before he gets that chance!"

Sonic's thoughts: _Pyscho bitch. _

" Hey! You take a joke that far, its no longer funny. This dude isn't alone. I saw his little buddy, and I already knew that the two were tight. And also...he has _me._ He will never be truly alone. As for the clock, that's a responsibility Clank just has to take, and Ratchet honors that. Now all I have to do is find my own little buddy."

Her smile left them both disturbed.

"Oh, is that who that was? I just so happen to have them both right here!" When the elevator reached the roof, too capsules opened up on two different sides. Clank was floating in one capsule, unconscious. Tails was also unconscious, on the floor of his own capsule. Thats not what scared Sonic though. Tails was barely breathing. _Nerve toxin...a high dose of it..._

"Clank! Tails! What did you do to them?!" Ratchet yelled.

"Nothing! Compared to what I'm about to do to you!"

Sonic stared at Tails for a moment. His shattered memory managed to make out something. _You can't lose him too...you just can't... _

He then raised his head. " That's the last straw...I am done with this..."

"Done with what? Are you mad that I could turn your friend into a fur coat? Well that's too bad for-" Her vessel was suddenly knocked into the air, as Sonic attacked her in a manner that was unseeable.

"You're going down! And we're taking our friends back!" Ratchet equipped his Constructo Pistol as a form of agreement. The Valkyrie already started to fire her turrents at the duo, and they split up in different directions. Sonic had no trouble with dodging the rapid bullets raining down on the small platforms. Ratchet had to be a little more wary of her movements. To him, he just had to keep firing his weapon.

The Constructo Pistol did no good, he equipped the Doom Blades, while dodging a splash of acid that was shot of him. He began to shoot multiple blades at the enemy, surely doing gradual damage to her. She shot a rain of acid down upon them, while they continued to avoid at any costs.

Cassiopeia retreated back down into the tunnels, and more Valkyrie flyers were beginning to fire at them. Ratchet and Sonic shared a frown. _No more stalling. _Sonic hopped up, gesturing for the Valkyries to blast him. Ratchet took advantage of the distraction, shooting their wings with his Constructo Pistol, making them fall into the sky.

Sonic took down the last ones by spindashing right through them with chain effect. He bounced on the ground, avoiding more rapid fire from the oppression. Ratchet equipped his Mag-net Cannon and shot the rest of the enemies with an electric cage. They went down hard when he then equipped the Negotiator to blast them out of the sky.

Cassiopeia ascended to the battlefield again, and fired her rapid firing turrent again. Once again, it was not very difficult to dodge for the both of them. Ratchet equipped his Plasma Slayer and hit a weak point on her was now no longer flying straight. Sonic dodged more splashes of corrosive acid aimed right at him, slid across the ground, and shot himself upwards. He did a hard spindash to another weak point of the craft, weakening it even more.

More Valkyries came up from the tunnels, and open fired upon the the guys. Ratchet has just about had it with them, and equipped his Spiral of Carnage. He fired the blue glowing saw blades of three, as they went and homed in on the six remaining Valkyries. They completely cut through three of them, and they can back around, slashing through the other three, and returned to Ratchet's weapon. Cassiopeia returns to the surface once more.

Ratchet took his chance, and fired his last Negotiator missile at her, which exploded on contact. That seemed to do the trick, as it really began to malfunction. As she began to scream in horror, the crazy vehicle flew in random directions, until she smashed right through Clank's capsule. The shattered glass started to fall, along with him. Ratchet wasted no time, and dived after him.

Sonic decided to finish Cassiopeia himself. So while she flew right at him, he jumped up. In slo-mo, he roundhouse kicked her in the face, sending the vehicle and herself falling in two different directions, as she continued to scream in horror, into the abyss.

Sonic landed on his feet, and looked down into the cloudy abyss. "Let's see you warrior your way out of that." Now calm, he focused on his unconscious comrade...

As for the other duo...

"Clank! Wake up!"

They were still falling at high speed, as Clank finally managed to regain consciousness. Ratchet boosted towards him with his hoverboots. When he got close enough, he managed to grab a hold of him with one of his arms.

_Got him! We're safe now! (Sees building) NOT SAFE! STILL FALLING! _

He pushed off one building, curved the wall of the other, and found himself hurtling towards the grassy grounds again. He tried to cushion his fall by pushing force against the ground, which resulted in a crash, which resulted in almost falling off a cliff. He pulled Clank back up, and they both laid out on the ground. now Ratchet can act exhausted.

"Hello Ratchet."

"Hey pal. Ha...how ya doin?"

"Fine. You?"

"Fantastic. Yep. I'm just...gonna lie here for a while though, okay?"

This was seriously one of the longest days in Ratchet's life. He deserved a breather.

* * *

Tails woke up steadily. He felt himself lying on soft grass. _Okay...I can feel...so that means I'm not dead. That's something. _

Now sitting up, he stretch his arms, and yawn silently. He felt felt his namesakes stretch as well from his action. _And I still have both of my tails. That's also very good. _

"Rest well, Tails?"

He heard someone speak to him, and fully opened his eyes. He saw Clank looking right at him. "It seems the nerve toxin has fully left your body with no perment damage, and it was a very strong dose. Thank goodness you only had to sleep it off. You are not only smart, you are strong as well."

"Clank! You're alright!"

"Indeed I am. How about you?"

Tails took a further look at himself. No bruises, no lost limbs, certainly no brain damage. He was clean. "Yeah. I guess I am alright!"

Clank smiled. "I am very glad to hear that."

What Tails then decided to notice the other two figures. Ratchet, and...Sonic. He paused for a bit. There was no doubt in his heart now. They both survived the assault. He spoke in a quiet tone. "Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog ceased his conversation with the Lombax. He turned to his two tailed friend. He smiled at his friends struggle, which was to not cry in front of two galactic heroes, and his best friend all at once. "Hey bud."

Since Tails couldn't find himself to move, Sonic did himself, and walked up to him. Tails looked up, eyes still wide. Looks like he couldn't find himself to speak, so he just rushed for a quick hug. Sonic wasn't surprised, he just let the fox hold him for a moment. When that ended, he released him, and rubbed his head, like he remembers what he used to do. "That's alright bud. You don't have to speak now. I missed you too." He decided not to ask him about his planets fate, as he seems to know something about it that he cannot remember. _Another day Sonic...another day... _

Seeing that they were comfortable, Ratchet and Clank continued with their own matters. "I'm so sorry about your dad, Clank. I should have stopped Nefarious sooner."

"It is alright Ratchet. Nefarious will pay for what he has done. The only thing that matters now is that we keep the clock safe." Alister then turned to the group.

"Not to worry. Once the past's been corrected, you'll have the full support of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. The clock will be in good hands." He seemed mighty confident about this.

"You do not understand. Time cannot be changed. Using the clock improperly could rip the very fabric of existence." Clank was trying hard to dissuade this idea.

"Or it could save an entire race of Lomaxes who risked their lives to save this galaxy!",Sonic and Tails weren't stupid. These statements were aimed at Ratchet.

"Ratchet, remember the Dimensionator? Some risks are not worth taking."

Tails decided to have a say in this. "Listen to us. We've seen for ourselves how risky this is. There is more harm to be caused by this than benefits."

Sonic joined as well. "Between an entire race and existence itself...not a very hard choice, despite the pains behind it. Plus he's one of the very few who's seen and operated the inside. If Clank says it's too dangerous, I'll believe him."

Ratchet, after a long pause, finally spoke. "Maybe Clank is right. If there is just a chance this could desteoy the universe, then the risk is too great."

"Risk? Risk is what makes us who we are! Ratchet, our kind is lost without us. Think of how many that clock can save. Think of your parents." Alister was trying tk reason with Ratchet in a pleading tone.

"Don't try that on him Alister. It won't work." Sonic was now standing in front of him. "After seeing how far you were willing to take this, he finally found the courage to quit before making a fatal move. He knows that between saving his race and keeping existence intact was not a hard decision. You're just making it seem like one. Just stop it, Alister."

"You want me to just stop when we're so close?! I'm trying to help fix the Lombaxes mistake!"

"Really? Because a few days back, it sounded like you were trying to fix YOUR mistake. And you're also completely ignoring the damage it can do to everyone and everything else. You risk saving your race at the cost of billions more and so on? By the looks of it, that isn't justice. That there...is nothing but selfishness."

When it looked like Sonic was done, Alister turned to Ratchet once more. "Ratchet...please."

With a heavy heart, the younger Lombax turned his back on the elder. "He's right, General. I'm sorry. We have to stop Nefarious from making the same mistake we did." With a four out of five vote, the guys started to gather to Aphelion, with Alister watching sadly.

"You coming General? General?" Everyone turned around to see Alister take off in his ship, away from sight. This all saddened them, but it needed to be said.

"Sonic? What do we do now?" Tails asked. The blue hedgehog shrugged as he turned to Ratchet.

"This is your universe. As far as we can tell, you know it a lot better than us. If you can call the shots, we'll follow you." Ratchet accepted that role, and continued walking to the ship.

Tails privately stood next to Clank. "Clank? Is Alister going to be okay?"

The robot could only turn his head. "I do not know, Tails...I do not know..."

* * *

_"Master Eggman. The elder has taken off, leaving the younger ones including the robot. Do you wish to respond to this?" _

_The Doctor sat in his floating chair as the mystery figure told him this. _

_"No. Let them be. I've decided to be nice and cut them a break. I'll let them continue this little adventure until I make a decision. That confrontation really brought by curiosity to the surface. In fact, to occupy my time, I want to research as much as I can about these...Lombaxes." His ship was cloaked with special tech, so there was no __tracking him. One of his cameras zoomed in on Ratchet._

_"Especially you..." _

* * *

**_Another Chapter completed! I kinda dozed out of it, but this is still in progress! Reviews are nice, Follows are great, and Favorites are fantastic! Heck, they're all three of those three things! Its your choice though, I won't force anybody. _**

**_Farewell, for now! _**


	7. Things Go Well, Then Things Get Bad

**Another chapter is up! Please don't hate it!**

* * *

Aphelion has by now left Planet Vapedia with the guys. Ratchet just now noticed how spacy Aphelion was, considering that she was able to literally make room for two more seats. He was going through that ias they flew towards Nefarious' Space Station.

"I really can't wrap my head around how many features you have, even though we've known each other for a while."

_Maybe its because you never bothered to read my holo-manual. I cannot exactly blame you though. You were a very busy Lombax. Although, someone seems to be curious to know more about me._

Tails was extremely wondered by Aphelion. He was asking her plenty of questions. "HD-800 screen, Plasma Plating, Quantum Deflectors, and so much more...those are things I wish my own ship had. I just...never had the materials for it."

_That's right. I'm a multipurpose ship! At least I used to be. Being stuck in a pile of dirt for years can really rust those advantages. _

" What exactly happened to you?"

_Galactic tyrant, seriously long story short. I was fighting alongside the Lombaxes on a world-wide invasion on Fastoon. Unfortunately I was shot down by seeker ammo. _

Ratchet resisted chuckling. "She called it "cheating"."

_But it waaaaaaasss! Anyway, I was abandoned along with the rest of the planet, presumed damaged beyond repair. Ratchet proved that wrong. Now I'm pretty much in top condition. I feel so new and improved. _

Tails was somewhat saddened. "So you were down for the count, and they just abandoned you? I don't think I could have done that, even at my own expense. Especially since you are a sentient being. I would rather be stranded with you than just abandon you."

For some reason, Tails unknowingly has the ability to make numerous females feel flustered just by being himself, which was innocent. Aphelion is now one of them. If she was able to, she'd blush. Well, they noticed that she glowed a little red.

_My...you sure seem set on being friends with me, aren't you? Just to let you know, we already are._

"Yeah...could you at least tell me who was responsible for that invasion?" Ratchet did not react, so Aphelion found it safe to say her piece. _That Cragmite scum...his name was Tachyon. _

Tails was somewhat chilled by the mere mention of the name. Sonic shifted as well from the mentioning. _Tails? Are you alright? I'm picking up your body temperature, and it lowered a little bit. _"I don't know...for some reason...that name bothers me...a lot."

Clank put his hand on his shoulder. "The name does make us uncomfortable, but no need to be scared. He cannot harm anyone now. Let us focus on our current objective." Tails lifted his head back up. Something in the back of his mind doubted that theory. And he feels that Ratchet feels it too. But Clank couldn't catch on to that. "Yeah...okay."

"Hang tight guys, we're approaching the space station." Ratchet informed them, as they were indeed getting closer. The space station was quite large, and..it looked like a head. Ratchet was just going to say it: "Nefarious' ego is just as huge and annoying as Qwarks. Speaking of Qwark, we should be meeting him here."

Aphelion approached the landing pad, and the guys began climb out of the vehicle. Ratchet, Clank, and Sonic climbed out of the ship, and Tails was about to follow.

"No Tails, you stay here. It's not safe enough for you." Sonic calmly told him. Tails saw the look in his eyes, it wasn't up for discussion. So he just sat back down and closed the hatch.

"Don't worry, we've got this. Plus, Aphelion will take good care of you in the meantime." Ratchet reassured him, as Clank latched on to his back backpack style like he always does. "Alright guys, let's move." They took off, as Tails was left alone with Aphelion.

_Not to worry, Tails. I'm sure they'll be fine. _

* * *

The others made haste to find Qwark and find out what "plan" he has. "Alright, Qwark said that he was on an asteroid on the outside of the perimeter. Clank, give me a location."

"Already triangulated the cooridnates to your Nav-Unit." Sonic affirmed that they knew what they were talking about, and just continued to follow. A couple of Terratropes always came out of the ground, few hits from a wrench was all it took. There was no time to be wasted on weak enemies.

Now those flying saucers spawing plenty of enemies onto the battlefield was something completely different. But then again, when was it the same?

Ratchet had made sure to re-stock on ammo when they got to the nearest vendor, he felt like they would need all their weapons at their best. He equipped his Mag-Net Cannon as they were immediately under attack. They took cover behind a wall.

Sonic on the other hand, couldn't get close enough for an attack, as they did not seem to stop firing. Ratchet was able to reach them by equipping his Constructo Bomb, and set it to Shockwave mod. He tossed a few, and the blast cleared out the ground troops. Before the saucers could spawn more, Ratchet was sure to shoot them down with his Negotiator.

Seeing the path clear, for now, they continued forward. They kept their eye out for Qwark. Ratchet made his way around with his Swingshot, as Sonic followed right behind him with his own ability. The towers were beginning to get a little cryptic, but not enough to hinder their progress.

The plates that they needed to jump on were too hot, so they had to cool it down first. Ratchet equipped his Omnisoaker and looked around for some usable water. After whacking around some more Terratropes, he found a containment field holding a small amount of water. It was enough for the Omnisoaker to suck up. He went back to the platings and washed them by blasting them, and they were cool enough for them to jump on.

They passed through another part of another tower, as more saucers popped up and spawned more ground troops. This time, Sonic made a move before they got a chance. He sped right at them, using a spindash to smash right through both saucers, and sent another bot flying with another windblast. Before one could attack him from behind, Ratchet shot it between the eyes with his Plasma Slayer, and it tipped over and exploded.

"Oh my. Ratchet, Sonic is such an extreme fellow. He reminds me of someone." Clank stated.

"Really? Who?"

"You."

"What? Oh! Yeah. Heh, I guess we're kinda similar, huh?"

As they continued on, there came more saucers coming from behind more towers, and Ratchet equipped his Constructo Shotgun. There wasn't much effort from this group of enemies, as he blasted right through two of them quickly. Sonic hopped onto the top of onw of the saucers, causing it to tip off balance and crash into the other.

Not noticing that it was Sonic who caused it, the other one just shot at it, not giving it time to react, and he jumped before it would explode. He then went on to the next one, forcing it off balance as well, and caused it to crash right into the cliffs next to them. Ratchet destroyed the last two bots with Constructo Pistol, and noticed Sonic come out unscathed.

With that out of the way, they approached a set of ramps across the towers. Ratchet used his hoverboots to ride the ramp, and then bounced off the jump pads. Sonic did the same, just without hoverboots. After a few jumps, they stopped at one piece of rock, and looked around again. Ratchet finally got a sight of Qwark.

_Finally! There he is. Now we can...wait...why is he in a nurses outfit? No, screw that crap, Ratchet. There are more important things to do right now thsn haunting mental images. _

Qwark finally saw the trio, and ran over to them. "Hey, look who it is!(Meaning Clank) Welcome back, little guy! Am I glad you're here. You-know-who were terrible sidekicks. Some people just don't take our line of work seriously."

"Wait what? I've only known you for a few days!" Sonic yelled.

"And you don't have much to show for it, do ya?"

"Grrrrrrr..."

" At least we're not the ones sitting on the sidelines while eeveryone else marches into certain death." Ratchet said.

"Sit on the sidelines? And let this baby go to waste?" Qwark brought out some ball looking thing. Sonic looked at it.

"A smoke bomb?"

"Yeah! You know, for making quick and fancy getaways?" Sonic, Ratchet, and Clank looked at each other and shrugged. They just dropped it. "Oh, forget it. Here. It's my most ingenious, fool-proof plan yet." He handed Ratchet one of those goggle like things that shows picture when looking into them. (Don't know what its called)

Not seeing why not, Ratchet gave it a look-see.

_The Nefarious Space Station. An impentetrable fortress fraught with danger and...windows. Using my feminine wiles, I was able to convince the custodial staff to temporarily reroute the south wing trash chute. This will be our point of entry. With the motion sensors deactivated, we should have smooth sailing into the south wing. Harnessing eight years of high school theater workshops, I will remain undercover as the lovely Shannon. My kbjective will be to escort you here. (Random picture no one cares about, awkwardness aside) I'll escort you jere, to a conviently exposed thermsl exhaust port._

"I think Clank should handle that one."

_Really? Oh thank gosh, that's so much better than my idea. Anyway, that port leads directly to Nefarious' personal quarters. Using the gigamorphic holo-ray, you'll be able to scan him and create a holographic disguise for Ratchet. With the disguise engaged, we should be able to breese past the guards and infiltrat mission control where we'll use the main security terminal to atomize every docked ship in the fleet. _

_With Nefarious trapped like a rat and the clock safe, we can contact galactic authorities so that I may bask in the awesome glow of their admiration. _

Ratchet thought about it. That plan...is actually pretty decent. Not completely terrible at all. Except the last part.

"Alright. I have to ask. What's with the nurse's outfit?"

"Ingenious, isn't it? It's part of an elaborate deception plan. It mostly invovles-"

"No one ever wants to know what it involves. Just make it so we don't get caught." Sonic said. The other two nodded in agreement.

* * *

**Maintainence Sector **

"Here we are...the final showdown of good and evil. Can ya smell that? That's drama, baby!"

"I smell a lot of things in here...drama isn't one of them." Sonic said uneasily. Pretty sure this was a garbage compactor.

"Look on the bright side! At least we're not being crushed to death by the pistons-"

_Garbage compactor activated, prepare to be compacted. _

"You see that? That's why we don't say things like that!" Ratchet yelled as the walls begin to close in on them. Qwark took action. "Cover me! I'm about to something impressive. [Holding Compactors outwards] Muscles, aching! Arms, burning! Calves ...looking good."

_Is there a time he's not talking about himself? _Sonic wondered.

On-board Computer: Blockage detected in trash compactor 714. Shutting down compacto "Ratchet, did you hear that? I did it! Ha ha! Technology, I just made you my-"

The walls gave in, making Qwark trip. "That, was a little two close." They decided to leave before that could happen again. They are definitely in enemy territory.

"This maintenace is crawling with Nefarious' goons. This might call for a little finesse. Watch and learn."

_Oh please no. _

_(Stupid female voice) _"Hello there. I'm nurse Shannon, this is Dr. Archibald Von Fuzzypants and his robotic intern Gundaf Metalsprocket, and partner the Blue Tornado. Because he's so messy it looms lik a tornado hit the room."

_Why does he continue to look down on just me?! _

"You are not authorized. Prepare to die, Nurse Shannon!"

_DAMN IT! _

The guys took cover as the bots opened fire. "How did they not fall for that?"

"Because they aren't that big of morons!" Lots of Nefarious' robots were already beginning to swarm the room, leaving them cornered at the moment. "Don't worry guys! I can solve this the way I solve most problems: Either with really big guns...or Clank. Usually both...never mind! We're gonna power through them!"

Ratchet equipped the Constructo Shotgun before coming out from cover. With it set on Lance Chamber, Spread Barrel, and Perforator Upgrade. He fired a couple of rounds at the coming group, they were forced back by the power. Was he glad there were only two of them. But they knew there would be more.

That assumption was proved correct when they reached the next room. Tow mechs were guarding a set of doors Ratchet carefully aimed his Plasma Slayer from behind cover. They have not been seen yet. "Alright, they're right in my sights...now I'll just-"

"Eat blaster, mecha fiends!" Qwark just charged in and started blasting them randomly, bringing attention to themselves.

_Confound it, Qwark! _Ratchet didn't waste more time, he fired at the mechs weak points, destroying them before they got a chance to attack Qwark. Realizing their cover was blown anyway, he charged in with Sonic. "It can't just end on that note, there's bound to be more..."

Behind the lasers, lots of mini bots came flying through it, along with morwle normal sized robots. Ratchet used Doom Blades to rid themselves of the smaller drones...only to find more of them come through. He fired more Doom Blades at them, each destroying one at a time, and rebounding off the walls. When he just about ran out of ammo for that weapon, more smaller bots came through. "Aw come on!"

Sonic and Qwark were on the other side of the room, fighting off the Nefarious troopers. The spindash was quite handy, as he sped around them all in a circle, then ran straight t them, tripping them while he came around for a second charge. He also taunted yhe mech right in front of him while standing on top of a trooper. The mech blasted the trooper right when Sonic dodged it. He jumped onto another troopers head, prompted the mech to blast that one too. He kept this up with all of the other troopers currently in the area, until there were none left.

"Thats nice shooting you got there!" He said jokingly. The mech couldn,t respond as Ratchet shot it in the head with a Plasma Slayer. Seemingly headless, it fell to the ground. "Alright! That should be all of them." As he said that, more of them were teleported into the room, making them all groan. "You've got to be kidding! They're still coming?!"

Ratchet once again equipped his Constructo Shotgun, and continued to blast through those troopers. The smaller mechs were also being a major bother, as they were still swarming them. Now he equipped his trusty Negotiator to clear out the smaller bots once and for all...for now. And then, that also ran out of ammo. _WHY?! Why didn't I re-stock on ammo? There's a vendor over there, but these goons are blocking the way... _

Sonic was busy overpowering troopers by mocking their inablility to catch him. Everytime they fired at him, he simply speeded to another part of the room, while Qwark kept uppercutting them with his blaster. Sonic then boosted at them, sending them all against the wall, in pieces. "You lose!" He then sped for the ones surrounding Ratchet, also smashing them against the walls. "And THEY lose too! You alright dude?" Sonic helped him up.

"Yeah...that should be all of them in this area. Let me re-stock on ammo and we can keep moving." Laser field was finally down, so they were able to move forward.

They moved into the hallway that lead to the control room, as even more enemies came teleporting in. Ratchet sighed. "I knew there would be more...so why am I so disappointed?"

"Look at it this way: If they're guarding just one door, then it's the one we gotta go through." Sonic said. "But I'll cut you a break. I'm gonna power right through them in one go!"

"Sonic, are you sure that is a safe option?" Clank worried.

"Just trust me." With his own vote of confidence, Sonic charged up his spindash. Wind gathered around his ball like form. He charged at them, smashing them into multiple he got back up, very dizzy. "Okay...I admit it...that kinda hurt...and exhausted me a bit..."

"Clank, you know what to do." Ratchet told him. Little robot climbed through the vent and scurried to find Nefarious. He followed the voices:

"Computer, take dictation."

"Ready, doctor."

"Things to do once the clock is under my control: #1! Double-cross remaining Valkyries and retire Lord Vorselon. #2! Reestablish vendetta against organic life forms! And #3! Iron socks!"

"Holo-guise complete. I am returning to the rendezvous point."

* * *

Holo-guise activating, everyone took a look at the disguised Ratchet.

"Eh...is he supposed to still be that short?" Sonic asked.

"Must've forgot to tune the auto-scaler. Meh, close enough. Try your vocal modulator."

"Test-test...One-two! It works! Now, let's finish this and go home."

"We have plenty of time, dude. Don't sweat it." Sonic reassured. "But wait...that still doesn't cover me...ya know what? Let me worry about that."

"Time to put this to the test...LAWERENCE!"

Said butler appearedby hologram near elevator.

"Yes sir? You rang?"

"Send down the elevator!"

"Right away, sir."

Not wasting any time, they piled into the elevator, as it ascended to the control room.

"Time for phase three! When we get to the hub I'll distract the guards while you man the space laser." Qwark explains.

"Got it!...How do we do that?"

"Not entirely sure about that...eh, I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Awesome..." Sonic grumbled.

They approached the hub, as very few guards were seen around here. As they walked, they thought about their course of action. "We need to destroy Nefarious' fleet. Let's get them to the landing bay."

"Landing is impossible with those asteroids hurtling everywhere. We gotta clear those out first." Ratchet said. "We can use the Hypernova Defense Laser. Follow me."

They approached the Terachnoid at the main computer. There was a lot of them in holograms here. "Dr. Nefarious! You didn't have to come all the way over here! The Hypernova Defense Laser is quite capable of clearing the debris. Say, would you like to test it out?"

"Are you kidding? I love shooting things!" "The controls are yours, sir."

_A few minutes of asteroid destroying later..._

"Excellent shooting sir! Don't worry, most of that destroyed equipment can be replaced. The landing bay is clear, and Lawerence is ready to give the order. I'll man the laser in case that pesky Lombax shows up."

That was done, now its time for the next stage. "LAWERENCE!" There he is again. "Yes sir? You rang?"

"Order the fleet to land!"

"Oh goodie, I get to press a button. And they said my intellect would be squandered under your employ. Stand by for fleet arrival."

Now it was time to blow things up again. This was getring boring to them. However that Terachnoid won't move from his spot.

"I'm sorry sir! But I refuse to let yoh man the laser! Not while the fleet is in place." Authority was needed. "You defy a direct order?! Take him away!" The laser on the ceiling, teleported him somewhere else, and Ratchet was free to use the laser. "Chain reaction time..."

The first shot was fired at the one in front of him. Apparently that was all it took, as that first ship exploded, it veered right, and crashed into another one. This process was repeated until there was none left.

As they watched the destruction, Qwark sat next to Ratchet and Sonic. "I feel very close to you right now." Sonic pushed him away. "No! None of that! Absolutely none of that! Shame on you!" The alarms began to sound as Ratchet lead the way. "No time, let's keep moving!"

Too many enemies to fight, retreat was needed. They managed to reach the elevator safely, and breathed easily. " i know I probably shouldn't be saying this at the moment, but what the hay? Mission accomplished!" Qwark cheered.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, that wasn't too bad! We actually pulled it off without too many scratches." As they reached the bottom, the doors opened...and there was Dr. Nefarious, eying them all. He did not look happy. "You were saying?"

Sonic sweatdropped. "Hey...what's up doc? What happened to your eye? You look so much better with the scar thing, makes you more menacing and stuff. Hehehe..."

"Funny thing is that I know you're trying to lead me off topic...but you're right."

Ratchet's Holo-guise decided to shut down, returning him to normal, and Clank was visible. _Of course... _He decided to approach him anyway.

"Nefarious, you can't use the Clock. Nothing you could want is worth risking the universe."

"Oh, but there is. And I have you three to thank for it. Initiate super-wavy flashback effect! [Flashback starts] Thanks to you, and your dim-witted friend here, I found myself drifting through the cosmos. Have you ever spend time on an asteroid? It's suprisingly BORING! Nothing for a villian to do but dwell on his failure! Then, one day the Fongoids saved us. But, still, failure burned inside my circuitry! How could I have been defeated by the likes of you? Why had the universe been tipped in your favor? I embarked on a crusade through the inner recesses of what you call "the soul". I studied Fogoid meditation, attended anger management class, dabbled in yoga, attended more anger management class! Until finally I went on a spirit walk on planet Quantos. It was here that I finally found what I had been missing, The Great Clock! [Flashback ends] With the clock under my control, I'll be able to wrong all the rights in the universe. Every villain who has ever stumbled will get a do-over. Every protagonist's triumph will be reversed! Until finally, a new present is created... in which the heroes always lose! [Laughs manically]

"Question." The laughing stopped, as everyone looked at Sonic, who had a finger raised. Nefarious groaned. "What now?"

"You said intitiate super-wavy flashback effect, right?"

"Yeah? So?"

"You do realize that no one could actually _see _it, right?"

"What?! You moron! Of course I realize that-"

"I don't think you do." The robot gapped at Sonic's straightforward attitude. It left him utterly speechless. Ratchet was also quite amazed at how casual he was being. _He just broke dramatics with awkward questions...wish I could do it as calmly as he does._

"Also, did your mother really call you a disappointment when you were growing up? Was it because you decided to stay a robot? Or the fact that your butler has common sense unlike yours. Or the fact that you let this( gestures to Qwark) push you around? Or was that all bluff and I missed something?"

Silence. Awkward silence. Sonic still had a curious look on on his face. "And you don't know what a soul is? Even Clank has one." Morw silence. A couple robots even faked a cough, the quietness was too much.

"...**GUARDS!" **

_Ah crud..._

_"Hang on, cadets! [Throws a smoke bomb onto the floor covering Ratchet, Sonic, Clank and Qwark in smoke. However as the smoke clears they are still there] Well that was five bolts wasted!" _

"That's because you're supposed to **_run_ **when the smoke was up, you douchebag!" Sonic shouted in frustration.

"...That wasn't on the manual."

Sonic looked at Ratchet, who shook his head. He knew what it meant. _See what we have to deal with?_

**_A few minutes later..._**

Ratchet, Clank, and Sonic were tied up to a boulder, as Qwark was in shackles.

"How do you like my Asteroid Flinger 5000? I had it installed in the event I ever needed a super ironic death scenario!"

"Um...its not ironic for me...because I don't really know you like they do." Sonic said.

Nefarious facepalmed. "How is it that I don't even know you, yet you STILL give me the unbearable urge to hate you more than these three!?"

"Was it because that I said you would have a very awkward Mother's Day? You know...since your mom doesn't like you anymore?"

"RAAAGH!" Ratchet on the other hand, tried once more.

"Nefarious, you're making a mistake!"

"Time will tell. Bon voyage, my old nemesis! MUAHAHAHAHAH-! _"You're just a lonely man, Lance. Boarding a lonely train on its way to Lonely Town."_

Everyone's face (especially Sonic's) was like: _The hell...? _

_"So help me, its true! All aboard for Lonely Town...choochoo Janice...chochoo..." _

To spare everyone the crazy crap, a random robot help the frozen Nefarious, as the trio was shot into space yelling. Things went dark...becuase they couldn't see...

* * *

Tails was still fiddling his thumbs, wondering what was taking so long. He knew this was a complicated mission, but still, they would have been back by now. Aphelion was in sleep mode for now.

What finally brought his attention was what he saw outside the windows. Nefarious troopers have finally spotted them, and were now heading in their direction, weapons aimed.

"Oh no...Aphelion...Aphelion! Wake up! They found us!"

_Ah...wait, they found our position! This isn't good! I must take off!_

"But what about the others?!"

_I told you, I've known Ratchet for quite a while now, he'll be alright. And if what you said about Sonic is true, then is he. But right now, both of them stated that you're my top priority! I have to get you out of here! _

With haste, Aphelion raised herself in the air and blasted off, right begore the troopers could reach them. She flew through space, planning to take Tails to the nearest space depot, so no one would find them. She kept the down low so she wouldn't be tracked.

While she focused on that, Tails sat in his seat, now very worried. He was holding the yellow Chaos Emerald in his hands. He politely asked Aphelion not to say anything about it until he made a decision. Now he has more to think about.

_If the Nefarious troopers were sent looking for us, that means he found the others...what are we supposed to do now? Think Tails...wait. General Azimuth! _

"Aphelion, do you think you can patch in to General Azimuth for me?"

_What? Whatever for? _

"I think the guys are in trouble. We need his help!"

_Hm...alright. Sending transmission to Alister Azimuth's ship now. _

Tails just waited patiently. "I hope this is the right thing to do..."

* * *

_Eggman, it seems that this Dr. Nefarious has gotten rid of them for us. Maybe we should go on with the plan? _

_"No. Give it a few hours. I can tell just by looking at Ratchet, and I know Sonic very well...trust me. Something like that isn't going to get rid of them. It was never that easy. I should know, I tried that already. At least Nefarious is resourceful, I'll give him that..." _

* * *

**_Another chapter done, all I have to say. See ya! _**


	8. Agorians Are SO Lame Sometimes!

**So this one is the Battle of Gimlick Valley. Sorry if my fight scenes kinda suck. I'm TRYING to get better at those. Lets begin anyway. **

* * *

_**Several hours later, on Planet Morklon...**_

Ratchet woke up with a start, feeling his head. It was still intact. Sonic was lyiinto right next to him, clearly wide awake, probably longer than he was.

"That's good, you're still alive. What's better, that makes three of us." The three of them were glowing a strange light, as Ratchet sat up fully.

"What the? What is this?"

Three zoni surrounded Clank as he stood up. "It appears the Zoni protected us firing the crash."

"Really? You know what? You guys are so cool." Sonic said.

**_He must not reach the clock! _**

As they chanted that, they flew back into Ratchet's Zoni Vessel. He then closed it.

"Thanks for the help, guys." He said awkwardly. Clank and Sonic looked at him in disapproval. "What? I'll give'em back." They only shrugged, as Clank attached himself to Ratchet's back again. "Alright...we've been launched at an uncharted planet...on an asteroid...what do we do?"

"We do not have a lot of time. Destroying the armada will not keep Nefarious away from the clock for long!" Clank said.

"There's no time to contact galactic authorities, that means its up to us. Come on, there's gotta be a ship on this backwater planet."

"Hey man! Easy." Sonic said as they looked at him. "I don't fully remember why, but I know that I take nature VERY seriously. Something clearly went down here. And judging by little to no civilization here, it must have been bad."

Clank gave a quick scan of their surroundings. Then put himself in thought. "He is not wrong, Ratchet. We do not have time to search the entire planet for a ship. We should find at least one life form here that may be of assistance."

Sonic took a look around, then pointed in one direction. "How about that Fongoid over there?" The others looked in that direction, there was definitely a Fongoid over there. "He's looks so lonely...we better see what's up." Not really having time for arguments, they followed the blue hedgehog over there. "Heeeeey guy...how ya doin'?"

The lone Fongoid noticed them, and stood up excitingly. "Praise Orvus, I have visitors! Have you come to hear about the historic Battle of Gimlick Valley?"

"Actually, we're trying to stop an evil mastermind from-"

"Ratchet! The sooner we hear him out, the sooner we find ourselves a ride." Sonic whispered. The Lombax only sighed. Clank did not seem to have objections.

"Splendid! It all started years ago when I was just a child."

_(Flashback) _

_Cheif Zahn Gribnak was manning his post at the Erundai Outpost when, suddenly...(screaming, Agorians attacking) Desperate to protect our village, Gribnak led a team of undertrained, poorly equipped soldiers into battle. Sadly, victory would not be theirs. Cheif Gribnak and his noble lot were captured, imprisoned, briefly pardoned, and imprisoned again...and eventually killed. The death of Zahn left us defenseless. (Sounds of ships) Without him, Commander Argos laid waste to our village by destroying the Erundai Floodgate. It was a crushing defeat._

_(End Flashback) _

"If only Zahn had been here to defend us against Argos! I guess you can't change the past."

"Guys, I believe I may have a way to help the Fongoids and give us a ride! Head for that time rift. Sigmund, come in. I need you to stabilize a time portal into the Battle of Gimlick Valley."

_" Accessing Breegus Almanac now, sir. Got it! Stabilizing time rift in three, two, one!" _A portal formed in the time rift, and the group walked for it. They kept an eye on Sonic, who was silent ever since the story ended. "Uh...you alright, Sonic?"

"Remember when I said that I didn't like Agorians? I take it back. I HATE Agorians. And I have a very short list of things I hate. So you know that I mean business. So...let's do this."

"I am surprised you are willing to charge head-first into a raging battlefield. Even for you, Sonic. Ratchet and I have experience with this sort of combat." Clank said, worried.

"If it makes this place not look like a giant dumpster, I'll charge at anything." That said, Sonic jumped into the portal first. Ratchet looked at Clank, a confused yet understanding smile on his face. They then followed soon after.

* * *

**Gimlick Valley: Ten Years Ago...**

Ah...Gimlick Valley. There is so much to do here. Gaze at the waterfalls...harvest the growing plants...get to know the villagers...defend against a full-scale invasion...wait. That's not an activity here...nor is getting slaughtered...oh boy.

"Attention, miserable creatures. This is Commander Argos. Pursuant to article seventeen of the Agorian Code Interstellar Acquistion. This sector now belongs to me. Leave now or face execution by firing squad!" That sounds like the leader, obviously.

The guys were teleported right into the battle, where shots were being fired from both sides. It was obvious who was winning. And that's not a good thing. Meanwhile, a Fongoid child ran up to the them. Let's not get into the whole not talking to strangers at the moment.

"Misters! Misters! You HAVE to help us! The Agorians attacked us, and kidnapped our chief!"

"Do not worry. We are here to assist."

"A talking lunchbox? Cool!"

"Haha! He thinks Clank is a lunchbox! He certainly isn't that much bigger than one, I just noticed." Sonic said, now slightly calm.

"_Very _mature, Sonic."

"Stay behind us kid, we'll get them back."

Agorians and Fongoids everywhere, blasting away at each other with no apparent signs of stopping. But it was painfully clear that the Agorians were winning. Seriously, the Fongoids were getting destroyed here.

And other fighters were throwing bombs at the Erundai Floodgate, attempting to destroy that too. It was just as Yurik told them. Now they can stop that and a lot more from happening. So they have to beat down these platoons of Agorians...and destroy three Hydra Tanks...that sounds easy enough.

Here was the simple plan, Sonic would take care of the enemies around the floodgate, while Ratchet and Clank go to free Cheif Zahn Gribnak. So basically...Sonic is gonna have to attack a swarm while Ratchet deals with the heavy hitters.

"Oh boy...this is not gonna be easy...oh well." Sonic sped toward the field, as Ratchet headed towards the other way.

"How do we co-op with someone that extreme?" "Clank, how long have you known me?" "...I see your point."

The Agorians that saw him didn't look like they felt like talking. They instantly opened fire upon them, using blasters and riduculously big spiky balls. Ratchet equipped his Negotiator, since that is whats needed. He fired missiles from one side of the bridge, preventing Agorian riders from crossing it. He found it ideal to kill the creature they were riding, first.

He then equipped Mag-net Cannon to trap them in a cage of electricity, as the small balls that held it together self-destructed. He kept it equipped for now, as some of the soldiers had shields to protect themselves. He used the Cannon to immobilize them before they could cross the bridge. Switching back to Negotiator, he fired more missiles, killing them as well. To Ratchets folly, more were beginning to storm the bridge. He worried about the issue of ammo, but remembered that the Fongoids were fighting too. They helped each other.

So he equipped Constructo Shotgun, and fired multiple rounds to keep them at bay. They were surely being forced back, yet they continued to come. Switching to Constructo Bomb, Contact trigger, Toxic upgrade, and Shockwave payload. He launched multiple bombs on their side of the bridge, and the Toxic spread all over their side. They panicked for a bit, then they scattered. Ratchet took his chance to strike them down with his Plama Slayer.

Seeing that side of the bridge clear, they quickly crossed it, along with a few Fongoids. More Agorians were waiting for them on the other side of the next bridge, where Zahn was. As they crossed it, seven enemies suddenly jump all around them, preventing escape. They were going to blast them all at once.

"Clank! Time bomb!" At that command, the robot threw the blue orb of energy at the ground, and time has stopped in that small area. Ratchet simply walked right out of the line of fire as his enemies slowly tried to attack them. Since they were in a big group, he launched Negotiator missiles at them, killing all seven of them. Yet more of them decided to attack them. Re-equipping Constructo Shotgun, he fired several rounds right at them. They fell one by one. Three more Agorian riders tried to ram into him. As one came from behind, he backflipped right over them, and shot right through him with multiple rounds to the chest. He landed on his feet as both creatures fell behind him.

The last two Agorian riders hesitated a little bit while looking at Ratchet. But they got over it and charged them anyway. Ratchet just equipped his Constructo Pistol, and shot both creatures between the eyes, making them trip, and the riders fly into the air. They hit the ground really hard. Didn't look like they were getting up soon.

They then went to free the Cheif.

"Ratchet, I believe we may have to go assist Sonic to deal with his share of enemies." Clank responded.

"Alright. Let's get done with business here, first." They approached the cheif. As Clank expected, the field was down.

"Yurik! What are you doing out of the shelter? Your mother will be very disappointed!"

"But, this Lombax is here to help us!"

"Yep. I'm Ratchet, and my pal here is Clank."

"I'm Zahn. This is Tulfur and Enat. Yurik, go take shelter with the others. We'll protect floodgate!"

**Another part of battlefield...**

Agorians have now sent in the Hydra Tanks, and even more ground troops to try and steal the win. They have now fully set their sights on the Fongoids, setting more of their village on fire. The dropships in the area continued to try and burst the floodgate.

Ratchet made it to meet up with Sonic, who has knocked down one of those dropships with repeating spindashes. He sees Ratchet approaching as he backflipped over another enemy.

"What took you? These guys are embarrassingly easy to beat. I guess they are just the bullying on weaker races type, eh?"

"Sonic, we will need you to distract the Agorians while we take apart those Hydra Tanks. The Fongoids have no chance with those on the field." Clank informed him.

"Can do!"

Sonic went on to keep any other Agorian soldiers from Ratchet's position. The Lombax meanwhile focused his attention on the first Hydra Tank. He brought out his Omniwrench, because it was all he really need for these things.

As for Sonic he approached a group of enemies attacking another group of helpless Fongoids. He rolled up into a ball and ran right through them, powerfully knocking them against the wall. A few of them got up, and charged in to attack him. It was obvious that they were too slow to even come close to hitting him.

This was proven as he simply sidestepped, and two ran right into each other. They were disoriented, as they still tried to find a way to hit Sonic. They were seeing lots of him because their vision was still messed up. They had their bombs ready anyway, and tried to throw them at him.

Too bad for them, they completely missed him, and unknowingly blown up each other. More of them charged at him with blades trying to slice him. He did nothing but jump in the air the second they reached him. Then he formed another quick spindash, and sped towards them. He plowed into the ground, and power shckwaves sent all of them flying.

They once again crashed into the ground, struggling to stay and fight. Sonic was gesturing them to keep trying. It wasn't a taunt, he was being honest...out of pity. He knew Agorians were stupid, and he still didn't like them. But...this was sad.

"Do you guys need a minute? Or can I just end it now?" The Agorians were still too disoriented to properly respond to him. "Ok then."

He charged another spindash, as he sped towards them and bowled them over with high speed. They were completely knocked out of the valley, flying into the sky. He stood up straight again, seeing them off. He then ran to check on Ratchet and Clank.

Ratchet landed on his own two feet, as the Hydra Tank behind him exploded in a blazing blast. He then saw Sonic heading right for them.

"Good, you're here. That was the last Hydra Tank in the valley."

"Nice! Maybe that Argos guy will just give up and leave."

_Attention, Fongoids! This is Commander Argos! My offer to spare your lives in exchange for this valley has expired. Stand by for execution! _

_"_...Crud."

Argos' ship flew into the battlefield, and made its way towards the floodgate.

"Commander Argos is trying to flood the valley! We must get to the top of the floodgate!"

"I may have an idea." Ratchet started, before Sonic grabbed his arm.

"There's no time for seed planting, dude! I have a faster, less time-consuming idea!" Ratchet was confused for a moment. "Really? What's that supposed to be-EEEEEEEE?!" Before he could finish, the hedghog jumped up and dashed right for the floodgate while holding on to Ratchet.

He scaled the wall, jumped over it, and landed with a BOOM! He let go of Ratchet, who was triying to catch his breath. "Geez! At least warn me before you do something like that!"

"Then its not as fun. Your freaking out was priceless!" A few taps from Clank told them to look in front of them. Commander Argos was facing them with his shift.

"Oh that's rich! One Lombax and a space rat against a class 3 Agorian space cruiser! You should have left the galaxy with the rest of your kind!"

_He called me a rat?! _

Before either of them could respond, Argos already shot a stream of flames at them, causing separation. Agorian troops then went on to attack Sonic, while Argos dealt with Ratchet. Sonic skidded backwards as he dodged a spiky fireball.

"Alright, its official. I've just about had itwith these lame Agorians! Always think they're better than everyone else, and that gives them the right to pick on others!" He dodged a blade swipe from one of them, and stood on it. "You want a real battle? Here ya go!"

Before he could react, the enemy saw a flash of white, then found himself skidding across the floodgate. Sonic went to charge at them, as they switch to Ratchet.

"Not all Agorians are bad, that I'll tell him later. But he's right, you gotta be stopped." He was telling Argos this as he dodged the volley of bullets he sent his way. "At least he's letting me focus on just you."

"You say that as if you can take me down anyday! You're wrong!" Ratchet has already removed one versa fuse, weakening the ships' shields. He was now trying to avoid tracking bombs launched his way. They were fast, but they took time to denonate as they could not hit him. He fired multiple Doom Blades at Argos as he dodges every attack. They kept bouncing off every surface, coming back to deal more damage.

Sonic eventually took notice of the bombs, and kicked one heading his way. It flew towards the troops he was fighting, and the explosion sent them all over the floodgate, screaming. Argos gapped at Sonic's ability, giving Ratchet time to pull out another versa-fuse.

"No fair! I wasn't looking!" Sonic rammed into his ship with a homing attack. Ratchet launched Negotiator rockets at him next, greatly damaging him. "Enough flying! We're on a tight schedule!" Ratchet pulled out the last versa-fuse, and the ship plummenting into the water.

"No! I can't swim! Momma! Your little boo needs hhelp! Momma!"

_What a chump..._

_**A few hours later...**_

"The Fongoids will remember this day forever. We owe all three of you our gratitude. Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

_"_We could sure use that ship that fell into the water." Sonic offered.

"Well...it could take us some time to fetch it out of the creek. But when we do, it's all yours! Now, if you'll excuse us us, we must tend to the other villagers." Cheif Zahn stated, then went on his way.

Sonic folded his arms. "History changed for the better! Back to the present!"

* * *

**Gimlick Valley-Present Day **

Its fair to say that the scenery was changed significantly. It made Sonic think: _This is more like it... _ The vegetation was looking healthier, the water was clean, the skies were clear, the floodgate was no longer broken. And the mos noticable changes: Were the numerous Fongoids in the area, the colorful rainbows...and four statues in the middle of the village.

They decided to have a look-see.

Four statues were right in the middle of the village, right in plain sight. They looked exactly like them. Sonic whistled. "We were awesome enough to have statues...and I just got here...hey where's that ship we were promised?" Said ship was being worked on by a very familiar Fongoid.

" Oh, hey! You're early. The reenactment doesn't start until tonight."

"Reenactment?"

"Well sure! Of the " Battle of Gimlick Valley." It was a shining victory in Fongoid history. Hold on...do I know you? You look awfully familiar..." Ratchet realized he was standing next to his own statue.

"Uh...nope! First time here!"

"And our second. Hehehehe." Clank said. "We were just admiring Agorian space cruiser."

"She's perfectly restored. I was going to take her up for the show, but her batteries are dead."

"I believe we may be of assistance. If we were to bring back a few battery bots, would you allow us to borrow your ship?"

"Well, I suppose that'd be okay, so long as I get it back in time for the show. If you find any battery bots, just toss them into the charging stations. That should get the versa fuses started." Sonic looked at Ratchet, winked, then sped off in a flash. A few seconds later...

"Done." Yurik turned back, to see that they got all of the battery bots in place.

"What? That quickly? Well...I guess the method doesn't matter, a deal's a deal. As long as I get it back in time. Eh...take it easy with her, alright?"

The three of them nodded. As they boarded the shil, they had a short chat. "Guys, they called Ratchet " The Mysterious Lombax" Clank "The Descendant of Orvus" and myself "The Blue Blur". Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yep. Congrats Sonic. You're already a legend...sort of...it still counts." Ratchet mumbled as he sat in the pilot seat. "Alright. Altimeter, thruster, warp drive..."

"Maybe we should read the instructions first?"

"See, nothing too it! And now, the booster." (Button pressing...)

"That is the radio!"

"Hold on, I'll just- uh...that knob wasn't supposed to pop off, was it?" It was clear that Ratchet had no idea what he was doing. "Maybe if I just-"

"Come on, dude! We're wasting time!"

"Don't rush me, man! You're stressing me out!" Clank sweatdropped while he rubbed his head.

"Why do I even bother? I am already starting to miss Tails and Sigmund..."

With difficulty, they headed off into space, determined to get to Nefarious. He needed to be stopped by any means necessary.

* * *

**Another chapter finished! We shall see what happens next! When I update, of course.**


	9. The Issues With Doctors Alister's Folly

Aphelion was doing a scan of their surrounding area. She and Tails wanted to be sure that nobody and nothing was following them. Nefarious has eventually caught on to their presence, that forced her to take Tails somewhere safe. Now she had to wait a while until she hears from Ratchet. Until then, she waited. Until then,. she worried.

Tails wasn't as occupied as she was. He was constantly pacing on the rock they were on, not making as much as a peep. There was much he wanted to do to help his new friends. But that was just it. There isn't very much he could do on his own, as this world was entirely different than his own. It would be hard for him to adapt.

His memory wasn't as scattered as Sonic's, but there are some things that he cannot process properly. Like how he got here in the first place, or how the Chaos Emeralds also made their way here. But some things were still intact in his mind, like what Chaos Emeralds were, and who Eggman was. Sonic's memory was terribly scattered. At least thats what he tells everyone. Back to the last thing...

That scared him the most about the situation. He heard from Sonic that he and Ratchet were attacked by someone with that name. He didn't want to run into him alone. He remembers he and Sonic barely got away with their lives. How and why...is still foggy to him. The answers lied elsewhere, he knew this for sure. But he doesn't feel safe if Sonic or friends aren't with him.

He looked down at his shoes, feeling a little nauseous about something else. It was Alister. When he contacted Alister like he asked Aphelion to, something told him that he should stand clear. He didn't forget how disappointed he was with Ratchet's decision. Any more of it, he would become dangerously unstable. They would surely pay for it when he eventually snaps.

_Tails, my scanners aren't picking up anything near us. I believe we may be safe for now. Tails? Is something the matter?_

The young one looked up tiredly. So many things are complicated in his mind, he can't think straight like he used to. "Yeah...we're safe here...i'm fine, Aphelion. I'm just...tired. Very tired." She knew that he wasn't talking about sleep. But before she could try to cheer him up...she suddenly shut down. Tails noticed that she went silent, and he became scared again.

"A...Aphelion? Aphelion?! What's wrong?!" Tails took a quick look over her, worried. _ Her power source is fully functional...yet it won't activate. Something must be jamming her energy! __  
_

"Hello...Tails."

_Oh no... _

He turned around, to see exactly what he feared was true. Eggman was riding one of his hovering mechs, looking down on the terrified fox. "Come on now, I only wish to speak. I won't hurt you...much." He snapped his fingers, as something dropped onto the ground with a powerful THUD! When the dust cleared, he saw what caused it.

It was the Egg Breaker. Tails remembered this mech, it was usually very big. But this one was different somehow. Instead of the usual red, it was completely black and yellow, nothing else. It looked more menacing somehow, with fewer colors than usual.

"Forgive the lack of color. I seem to have run out of paint for the blasted thing. Now onto more pressing matters...where was I? Yes...where's the Chaos Emerald?" This was exactly what Tails was afraid of. "And don't you think that I don't know." Yep, what he feared.

"W-What?"

"Don't try to lie, Tails. You aren't very good at it, everyone who knows you knows that." Tails began to shake uncontrollably, yet refused to give in. "I have no idea what you're talking about..."

Eggman only shrugged. "My scanners say that you have a Chaos Emerald. But fine, keep playing dumb. Let's see how far you're willing to take it." But before he could give a command, an untimely arrival interrupted them both.

Sonic jumped off the ship Ratchet was piloting, and landed feet first in front of Tails. He then looked straight up at Eggman.

"Alright Sonic! You can deal with that guy! We'll handle Nefarious!" Ratchet yelled as the ship continued towards the space station. Eggman huffed as he looked at Sonic. "Well...look who it is..."

* * *

Getting back to the present was easy enough. But getting past Nefarious' ships, and checking on Aphelion and Tails...was actually pretty difficult. But they managed it. Sonic felt that something was amiss, and had them quietly circle the entire station once.

Were they glad they did. They saw Tails was very much in trouble, and Sonic volunteered to take care of it while they move on to more important matters. "Do you think Sonic will be able to help Tails?"

"I'll tell ya one thing pal, that guy does not look like a complete ameteur. But i'm sure Sonic can handle it. We have bigger things to worry about." Ratchet seemed pretty confident about this. He knew for sure Sonic was tough.

As they flew back towards the station, the landing bay was finally in place, and they landed. They hopped out, and began to go the way they came the first time.

_Attention, starship signature 9099 delta has just arrived at landing platform. All fueling pods, please begin fueling sequence. _

"Lawerence must have arrived in his starship to pick up Nefarious! We must get to that starship, before it leaves for the Great Clock!" Haste was needed. Time was _literally _was at the essence.

With that, they boarded the transport that will take them to the place they were last time...its not cheating. They were passing by all of the routes they took last time as to not waste so much more precious _time. _

Ratchet, while riding the transport, came across a strang sight: Qwark seemed to have escaped, with...Snowball the War Grok? They were forcing their way through Nefarious troopers. _ But how the heck did he get it up here? _

"Get em' Snowball! Get em'! Good work Snowball! Tear them apart! What? Ratchet, you're back! We'll hold off the troops! You guys messed with the wrong War Grok!"

Ratchet rubbed his head. "Well...that's two less things to worry about. Now I don't have to rescue Qwark, or worry about troopers attacking us. We can continue on!" They have made it to the other side, as the starship was in sight. Now all they have to is get down. Hoverboots, duh!

Ratchet used them to hover down to the ship's platform. Nefarious was just about to get away. "That's far enough Nefarious! Step away from the transport!"

The robot turned to them, utterly confused, even more utterly upset. " "**YOU AGAIN!?** How is this possible!? You...should be** DEAD!" **

"Guess you can add failing to kill us to your very long list of disappointments. That's something Sonic would say."

"Did I at least kill the blue one?" "Nope." "Curses!"

Clank stepped forth. " On behalf of Galactic Authorities, we hereby charge you for will of disruption to the time-space continuation. Shut down the transport and surrender quietly!" Its safe to say that Nefarious was through with Clank's crap.

"Look at** YOU**, free for the first time in years, inches from your destiny and **WHADDA DO!?** Run right back to playing "Backpack" to a squishy, (when Nefarious is saying this to Clank, he walks up to Ratchet who looks angry with him) You're nothing, but a pathetic side-kick! (while he is saying this, Nefarious walks back over to Clank, pointing at him, then Nefarious leans over and touches the top of Clank's head with one of his fingers)

Ratchet has just about had it with this guy. "That's it. **NO ONE **talks to Clank that way!" With that said, he kneeled down to Clank. "When this over, I'll back any decision you make. But first, how 'bout one more hurrah so we can kick this guys' butt." Clank seems to like that idea, and nods.

"When I'm finished killing you, I think I'll rewind time so I can do it again...and again...**AND AGAIN! GAHAHAHAHAHA!" **

Clank attached himself to Ratchet's back, and they were ready to battle.

* * *

Sonic sped towards Egg Breaker, while latter tried to land a punch on him. The fist didn't make contact as he leapt over it, and hopped backwards.

It then launched the spiked ball at him, as Sonic dodges to one side, but the shockwave that it created forced him off balance. He tumbled across the ground before flipping to regain his balance.

Before he had a chance to look up, he could already hear the next attack coming. He pushed backwards as a laser almost singed him. Another spiked ball almost hit him again, he had to flip again to avoid damage. He was finally able to take a break, as Sonic looked back up at Eggman.

"What do you want?!" The doctor simply shrugged.

"I admit, I said that I would stay out of the way until this was over...but I changed my mind. I want the Chaos Emerald, then I'll leave you alone." Tails shook his head furiously. "No Sonic! He can't have it!"

Sonic looked over to his buddy, and looked back at Eggman. "I'm not sure why...but I agree with him. I don't even know you." Eggman then shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Sonic. You in fact _do _know me. But none of that right now, this isn't the time. My Egg Breaker isn't what it used to be." The mech raised its non-spiky hand, and it glowed a light blue. "I made upgrades."

Tails stood up. "Repulsors!"

The blue ray fired from the hand, and Sonic surprisingly couldn't react fast enough. The blast hit him right in the chest, making him crash into the walls. Sonic barely got up, but charged back at him, spindashing right at its chest. The force made it step a few feet backwards. He then went to kick him, but the spiky hand smashed right into his side, once again making him crash into the wall, but managed to prop himself back up.

He stood on his feet again, and noticed that he was cut on his arms. Before he could think about it, another spiked ball was launched at him, and he dodged upwards again. But while he was in the air, a repulsor blast hit him in the chest again, sending him flying. He managed to land on a small rock, and looked back up.

"Pathetic! You're off your game, Sonic!" Another repulsor blast fired, Sonic sped out of the way, then forced himself to do a homing attack at the mechs chest. After he stayed in the air for a few more moments, he did it again, and did so repeatedly, sending Egg Breaker toppling backwards a little. After it regained its balance, it stood straight for another attack.

It just spun its upper body in a circle, as its lower body began walking towards Sonic. He just turned the spiky ball into a wrecking ball. Sonic ducked under thw spiky ball, as it scathed the wall he was in front of.

He had to jump multiple times to avoid the spiky ball of doom. What? It was. Anyway, there was no chance that Sonic could attack Eggman while he was in motion like that. He jumped over the ball a third time, aiming to attack the cockpit. But that was expected, as the mech stopped spinning, and aimed its repulsor hand. He was once again shot out of the sky. And that wasn't all, before he could even land, the same hand punched him hard, once again causing Sonic to crash into a rock wall.

As he slid down, he was painfully pinned to the wall by the mech hand, and was briefly shocked with strong electricity. He was beginning to lose consciousness...

"You've lost your touch, Sonic. You were much more challenging before. Or is it that I've finally outdid you?" Sonic weakly pulled his head up. "I'm tellin' you...that I...don't remember...you..."

Eggman gave an evil smirk. "You really don't remember anything? Or how about this theory: Did you _choose _to forget?" Sonic froze up at that accusation. He was never sure of how he his memory was wiped, but hearing the other part confused him. But before he could think more about it, he was shocked with more lightning. "Doesn't matter now, does it? Do yourself a favor Sonic, and _die." _

Suddenly, the mech was shot with powerful lasers, that stunned it, and made it drop Sonic to the ground. Egg Breaker faced Aphelion, who was back online after the jamming frequency was stopped.

"But how? How did you break the frequency?" Tails smiled inside the cockpit. "You can thank _him _for that." Egg Breaker turned to see what he meant, only to be blasted by more energy. Alister attacked him with his Praetorian Omniwrench. He went for a full charge, jumped up, and jabbed one end into it. After a few moments, the energy exploded violently, and it nearly took apart Egg Breaker, but enough where it was no longer usable.

Eggman looked down at him, not too surprised. "Well well...look who it is. What should I call you? The Outcast? The Exile? The Failure? The _Traitor? _I'm evil, I can do this all day."

"Leave the boy alone!" Alister yelled, gesturing to Sonic. Eggman just let out a small chuckle.

"How sweet. The failure to his entire race is trying to save the failure to his entire PLANET! HAHAHAHA!" Sonic and Tails were extremely disturbed by this. "What do mean by that?"

"Ahahah. Not too many spoilers at a time. I'll leave you alone for real this time. But you want to know what happened to it? Let me give you a hint." Eggman said the next words hauntingly. _"It's all Ratchet's fault..." _He pressed his teleporter wristwatch, and he disappeared.

Alister walked over to Sonic and Tails. "I got the transmission you sent me. You boys alright? Where's Ratchet?"

Tails helped Sonic up while looking at him. "He and Clank are fighting Nefarious on thier own. We should go help them!"

"You take Aphelion, I'll take my own ship. Let's go!" The group took off in the respective ships, and headed towards the Nefarious Space Station.

* * *

Ratchet dodges another blast of lasers, and grabbed a bomb and tossed it back at his opponent. Nefarious dodges the bomb blasts, and launches more energy from his hands.

He then used his jet feet to charge at Ratchet, prompting short melee. "Never took you(punch) for the actual fighting type(blasts). I'm surprised you're aiming for a partner!"

Ratchet blocked most of those strikes with his Omniwrench. "I never took you(block) for a person that actually cared for my interests(dodge). I'm surprised anybody takes you seriously!"

They then separated, as Nefarious threw a bomb at him, and blasted a laser beam. Ratchet knocked away the bomb, but was knocked away by the small laser blast. Clank used his Heli-Pack to keep him balanced.

Nefarious through a multitude of bombs at him now. The other blasted away at them with his Constructo Pistol, and launched a Constructo Bomb right at Nefarious. The robot blasted the bombs before they could denonate. When the smoke cleared in front of him, another bomb was tossed at him. That one he couldn't blast, and tried to block it.

He was blown a far distance away as he recovered with struggles. He then took out some different typed bombs, and launched more of them at him. These bombs could not be deflected, so he had few options but to dodge by jumping. The shockwaves were big and long, but was still able to dodge.

Ratchet barrel rolled, and launched Negotiator rockets this time, with Constructo Bombs. The resulting explosions sent him flying further back. "How about you give up, Nefarious! You only make things worse for yourself!"

"The worse the merrier!"

"That doesn't even make any se-" Ratchet realized the Hypernova Defense Laser was being shot right at them. He wide eyed. "Oh boy..."

He launched his hoverboots, and sped away from the massive blast. The platforms that kept the station together began to fall apart, crumbling under his boots. He had to jump the ramps to make his way over the crumbling rubble.

Nefarious was firing shockwaves at him while flying. He was trying to hinder Ratchets escape from the laser. But he jumped right over the blasts with not much effort, trying to find something stable to stand on. The only thing he could find was the starship Lawerence was piloting. So he timed a big jump on that.

He landed on his two feet, as Nefarious caught up to him. "You should have seen the look on your dad's face when he realized he wasn't there to talk science. So much for the great and powerful Orvus!" No mystery who he was talking to.

"That is highly inappropriate!" Clank shouted.

Ratchet also took offense to this, and launched another rocket at Nefarious. The turrent on tje ship blew up all of those rockets. That same turrent began to fire at the duo. Ratchet had to keep moving at all times to avoid getting blasted.

Nefarious was still firing lasers from his hands and launching bombs at them, giving them even less time to avoid attacks. "Remember when you destroyed the Biobliterator? Consider that victory erased!" "You KNOW you brought that on yourself!"

Ratchet brought something out. Nefarious was shocked. "Where did you get that RYNO?!"

"I know a guy." With that simple comment, he opened fired upon him, as Nefarious was barraged by bullets and rockets, being sent further into space. "I also knkw how to do this!" He launched his hoverboots as he flew at the robot. He then hit him as hard as he could with his wrench, in the face.

He screamed as he was sent into the starship hood, and was temporarily unconscious. Then, his head twitched, and his head began to shout multiple things. (It was too random for me to understand) Ratchet looked towards the station. They were heading right for it! He went and grabbed Nefarious' head.

"Nefarious! How do I disengage the auto-pilot?!" He couldn't hear him, he was still spouting stuff that couldn't be comprehended. "For crying out loud, man! Snap out of it!" He slapped him, making him turn, then fully slam into the ground, eyes popping out...literally. Ratchet beat him so hard that he was broken.

"Alright, let's not panic. We just need to find Lawerence before he takes the-" Ratchet hears something blast off, and he sweatdropped. "...escape pod." He then leaned down and put a hand on Clanks shoulder. "Pal, its been one heck of a ride."

Clank would have agreed, if it wasn't for the ship heading their way. It was Alister. "Ratchet! Come on! You have to jump!" Ratchet looked back at the Station, and grabbed Clank, ran for the ship with precise timing, and grabbed onto one of the wings.

Behind them, the starship ran right into the station, and everything on it pretty much self-destructed. Everything was disintergrated in the blast. Presumeably Nefarious as well, but something carried him out of there...and it wasn't Lawerence...

* * *

**Great Clock-Sector Five... **

Everyone met up at the Great Clock, discussing what happened next. Unfortunately...it was goodbyes. For Clank.

"So...I can't talk you out of this, can I?" Ratchet asked.

"We have been on many adventures, Ratchet. But someone must protect the Clock. It is what I was built for." He reached out for a handshake, but instead, Ratchet hugged him. This surprised him, but returned it.

Tails walked up to the smaller robot. "Bye Clank...when I get to know this world better...can I visit?"

"We have a fun time, adventuring the Clock together, Tails. Of course you can." They both smiled. "Even though it was only a short while, you won't forget me?" "I would never do that. You are a very bright person, Tails. Forgetting you isn't possible." For a moment, they hugged too.

Sonic walked up to Ratchet, fist-bumping. "So...how many times did you save the universe now?" "Meh. Five? Six? No ones really counting anymore." "Dude...you are good." Silence. "So...", " Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. Just give me a moment with my pal, alright?" "Its cool, dude."

There was, however, one person who wasn't cool with this.

"Wait. So...that's it? But what about the Lombaxes?" Alister was STILL pressing this matter. It was getting old. So Ratchet decided to shut it down.

"The Lombaxes aren't lost, they just...moved on. And we'll find them. But the past stays as it is.(To Clank) Come on pal, I'll walk ya in." It was clear that Ratchet was done with that idea for good. Sonic folded his arms. "There are many votes against your idea, man. Just give it up." Sonic and Tails walked the other way. Back to Ratchet and Clank:

"You know, I never thought of you as a sidekick, right?"

"I always thought _you _were the sidekick. Hmhmhmhm!" Classic Clank. Everyone seemed to be content with their choices. But Alister just couldn't take a hint.

"Where are you going? This is your responsibility. You can't just walk away! The Lomaxes need us!" Ratchet sadly turned his back on him during his rant. "Don't walk away from me!"

Sonic suddenly stopped in his tracks. _My quills are beginning to tingle... _

"I said **STOP!" **Alister fired a strong blast of energy at Ratchet, who turns around...right when it hits him in the chest. The impact forced him backwards.

Sonic, and Tails, in slow motion, turned just in time to see the blast make contact. No one could react to this. It was too sudden. Clank was the most horrified of all of them.

Ratchet...barely breathing...only hearing his failing heart...looked backed at Alister, who showed nothing but rage on his face. He was backing up against the edge of the platform, not realizing it. _How...could you...? _Ratchet eventually leaned back, and fell off the platform. Sonic and Clank rushed to catch him...

It was no good.

"**RATCHET!**!" Clank, Sonic, and Tails shouted as they looked over the platform. Ratchet was gone.

They slowly looked back at Alister, who looked like he was going to attack again. And thus he did, he fired another blast at them, and they barely dodged it. Sonic sped one way, Clank pushed Tails to the other. They looked at him in shock. Clank looked at Alister, wondering what to do. Tails looked at him in horror. And Sonic looked at Alister, eyes wide. Not in horror, but extreme disbelief. Alister just killed his best friend's son. He would go _that _far? He only said this:

"Alister...you've lost it..."

* * *

**I REALLY didn't want to put that part in this chapter. I found that part of the game extremely enraging...and it made me very sad afterwards. But it needed to be done. How does Sonic himself plan to respond to this? Just wait and see...er...read...next chapter. Whatever.**


	10. Choices

**_Hey guys! This is chapter ten. Not much to say, except look for the twists..._**

* * *

_Previously..._

"I said **STOP!" **Alister fired a beam of energy from his wrench at Ratchet. He turned around, but it was far too late. The blast hit him dead on, right in the chest, forcing him backwards.

Clank was in shock, looking back forth between the two Lombaxes, not believing what just happened. Did he really...?

Sonic and Tails turned around to see what happened, and wished they didn't. Alister just blasted Ratchet out of rage!

Ratchet was barely breathing, his failing heart the only thing he could hear. He weakly looked up at Alister, who didn't look remorseful at all. Only rage filled his face. The younger Lombax was in serious disbelief. _How...could...you...? _He slowly leaned backwards, as he fell off the platform.

Clank and Sonic jumped to try and catch him...they were seconds too late.

**"RATCHET!" **They all shouted as they watched him fall. Ratchet was gone.

They stood up straight, slowly looking back at Alister, who just gave them a dangerous glare. He then fired another blast of energy at the trio. Clank pushed Tails to one side, and Sonic flipped to the other. He landed on his feet, looking at Alister with extreme disbelief.

" Alister! You've lost it!" He dodged another blast as Alister charged forth.

"Don't talk to me like i'm insane! It was all his fault! He gave me no choice! I've come too far to fail now!" Clank managed to retrieve the Chronoscepter, and eased backwards. Sigmund made it just in time to stall Alister.

"He's heading for the Orvus Chamber! Lock him out!"

Clank nodded hastily, and made a run for it. " Tails! Please stay by my side!" The fox didn't argue, as he followed him to the chamber.

Alister was fighting with Sigmund, who was surprisingly doing quite well. "Out of the way, Caretaker!"

"You want a piece of me?! Hiya! Huah!" He was doing anything he could to keep him away. He saw the duo heading for the chamber, and forcefully knocked Sigmund away. "No! Get away from the chamber!"

Alister leapt from where he was, and head for Clank and Tails. His wrench cackled with energy, as he was aiming right at Tails! "No one else will get in my way! Or I'll show no mercy!" Tails looked back at Alister, as the wrench was about to hit him. Clank swiftly blocks it with the Chronoscepter, and a small explosion resulted from the clash of energy.

Clank's temporal energy proved to be superior, as the elder Lombax was blown back a far distance away, sliding across the floor on his face. "Your judgment is clouded Alister! Please stop this madness!" He didn't stick around for a response, he only tugged Tails along.

Alister propped himself up with his arms, and saw them getting away. Before he could move, however, he was smashed in the back by a strong spindash from Sonic. He tumbled, then ended up on his face again. He propped himself up once more, and looked up at the hedgehog standing over him.

"I can't let you do this, Alister!"

"You don't have a choice! It doesn't concern you!" He leg sweeped him, and Sonic fell to the ground. Alister picked up his wrench to attack again, but Sonic jumped back up and headbutted him. He rubbed his head, and went to attack, as Sonic caught the wrench with both hands.

Over the platform, they struggled over the wrench, trying to pry it away from the hands ofthe other. Sonic was the one having a hard time, he hasn't fully recovered from his battle with Eggman. Alister on the other hand, wasn't tired at all. He finally pried it from Sonic's hands, and kicked him in the stomach.

He was forced back, as he tried to recover from the blow. Sonic moved fast when another blast of energy was thrown at him. He finally realizes that Alister was good with long ranged and short ranged. He decided that stalling him was the only way.

Alister fired another energy blast from his wrench, as Sonic sped toone side. He missed, and fired again, only to miss again. He fired tons of energy blasts at Sonic, who used his speed to avoid being hit by any of them. Sonic then decided to spindash at him.

But this time, when he headed right for him, he unballed himself and punched him at high speed. Alister recoiled, and grabbed his face, snarling. He stood back up and prepared to strike at Sonic again. The hedgehog already sped around for a counter, and only appeared as a blur. He spindashed into him once, making him stagger backwards. Sonic circled around, and attacked him again and again.

Alister was beginning to get irritated, and waved his wrench in the air. "Enough of this!" His wrench fired another blast of energy at the speeding form of Sonic, who flipped right over him before it hit him. But he expected this, and used the advantage of the double-edge, and caught Sonic with the other end by the throat. He twirled it, and smashed him into the ground, cracking it. He had Sonic pinned down the same way he had Ratchet when they first met. Sonic grabbed the end of the wrench, barely breathing.

"Its over, Sonic! You're fast, I'll give you that. But you are years behind challenging me hand to hand! Not only that, you're too exhausted to give it your best!" Sonic was struggling under the Wrench's grip. He was right. Sonic was extremely exhausted, and Alister had years of battle experience. He taught Ratchet everything he knows, he would have a chance. But...

"Why are you doing this? Is it...really worth the universe? To save your race? All of this...is it really?"

"Of course it is! What happened back then was a mistake that should never have happened! That's why I need to go back and fix it! Ratchet couldn't understand that!"

"And you chose to support your position by killing him?! The ONLY son of your best friend?!" This caused Alister to pause. His grip lightened slightly. He looked very sad. But he didn't let go. "I really didn't want to...but I had no choice. When I change the past...I'll be sure to save him...let him have his family..." "But he won't be himself anymore..." Alister looked at him sadly. "I know."

Sonic sighed. "I can't get you to change your mind, can I?" Alister shook his head as a response. "Huh...then I'm sorry to hear that..." In one swift move, Sonic twirled his feet rapidly, kicking the wrench away, building force, pushing his entire body upwards, causing both his feet to collide with his face. Alister was flown backwards, crashing into the ground.

Sonic landed on his feet, panting. "I didn't need to beat you...I needed to distract you. Clank! Button!" He sped towards the Orvus Chamber, where Clank and Tails were already inside. Alister then realized he's been tricked. "No!"

Alister ran towards the room, but Clank already had the door closed. "Open this door! Do you hear me?!" They didn't listen, as they headed for the chamber. Sonic and Tails looked at Clank.

"What do we do Clank? We can't go messing with it, but that door isn't going to hold Alister back forever." Tails said hurriedly. Clank wasn't really listening. He was deep into his thoughts. Sonic and Tails were asking him what to do, as Clank couldn't hear them as he contemplating on what to do.

_Time is a gift, and not to be tampered with. _

_You kidding? You think I would leave my best pal out here alone? _

_Your father went to great lengths to protect this room from those who would abuse it._

_I wouldn't risk anymore than six minutes. _

Clank froze, and rewinded the last part. "Six...minutes..." He made his way for the lever, grabbing a hold of it."

"But Clank-"

"Trust me, Tails." With that simple statement, the duo stepped back as Clank pulled the lever in one direction. At that moment, quantum energy flowed through the room, and then everything rewinded six minutes backwards, from them getting to the Chamber, to Alister blasting Ratchet.

**Six minutes backwards...**

They were frozen in place, Alister ready to blast Ratchet, Ratchet about to get hit by it. The trio were looking between them uneasily, but them realizes that it worked. But it wouldn't for long. Not wasting another moment, Clank made a run for Ratchet, pushing him out of the way of the blast, right when time began again.

The original passage to the chamber was destroyed by the blast. Everyone eventually got back up, looking at Alister in disbelief, Ratchet above all. The elder did not flinch, and went on for another attack. Multiple bombs were thrown all over the place, taking platforms apart.

Alister zoomed off, heading for the Orvus Chamber. Ratchet followed with his hoverboots, Clank on his back again. Sonic carried Tails in the same manner, not letting him go.

"I'm sorry, Ratchet! I've come too far to fail now!"

"General! What are you doing?!" Ratchet was trying to avoid the numerous bombs being thrown at him, AND falling rubble from the explosions.

"Correcting a mistake!" He's clearly lost his mind if he thinks this will work. The guy really thinks abusing a switch to the universe will end well. "Stop it, General! You can't change the past!"

Alister was throwing more bombs at the four, not listening to anything they're saying. " You never really were one for risks, were you?!"

Sonic carried Tails through the rubble by hopping off the falling platforms in his way. The latter held tightly onto his back, not letting go. This was the only way he couldn't get hurt by the rubble. They were nearing the chamber as they were riding the debris.

The three groups raced to the Orvus Chamber. Unfortunately, Alister managed to beat them there by four seconds, just enough time for him to pull the lever.

_Time shift initiated. _

Ratchet and Sonic got to the chamber too late, the jump was already starting. Sonic cursed himself for being too exhausted to use higher speeds. Tails stayed back as he watches what transpires.

"General...move out of the way..."

"I can't do that, Ratchet! I'm literally this close to success! There's no way I'm giving that up! More energy bolts were fired at Ratchet, as he used hoverboots to hastily dodge to one side. He lands on his feet, pulling out his Constructo Pistol.

"I don't want to fight you!"

"Then why won't you join me?!"

Ratchet flew over the place with his own hoverboots, blasting away at the elder. " You already know why!" Alister blocks all the shots by spinning his wrench around so fast it made a wind shield. "It didn't have to be this way! I wanted you here, by my side!"

Sonic made sure to stand clear until it was necessary to intervene. He knew this was personal. Ratchet kept trying to reason with Alister, which keeps ending in failure. Alister sped around in a circle, throwing bombs in the middle of the room. Ratchet, kept away by keeping up with him.

He then circled the room the other way, and tackled Alister full force. He quickly recovered though. "Is that all you've got?! You're nothing like your father!"

"RAGH!" Alister was hit in the chest by a speedy spindash from Sonic. They both landed a fair distance away. "Dude, that was SERIOUSLY uncalled for!" Seeing Ratchet hit Alister in the face meant he was in agreement. Ratchet then fired one Negotiator rocket _near _Alister, not at him, and the explosion forced him backwards.

It seemed that he wouldn't get back up. But it was faked, as his wrench's energy charged, and it struck the ground, causing a powerful shockwave. They were blown back by the force. Ratchet crashed into the ground, with Clank propping him back up. Sonic nearly fell off the edge, but managed to pull himself back up. He saw the chamber beginning to fall apart.

"I'm guessing that's not good..."

_Quantum tunneling initiated. _

" Hear that? In a few moments we'll be able to prevent the greatest injustice in Lombax history!" Ratchet forced himself to get back up. "I can't let you do this!"

"You don't have a choice!"

"So thats it? After all we've been through? You're just gonna kill me?!" "Know kill you now, save you in the past!"

Sonic barely saw any value in that plan. What he did see was the platforms tearing to pieces, and had to keep moving around to avoid falling.

He then took Alister by surprised by looking like he was going to punch him. But he stopped at the last moment, then ducked. Ratchet jumped over him, and smacked Alister with his wrench. Once again, he crashed into the floor.

"You can't do this, Alister." Said Lombax looked up at Ratchet, who had one arm up, straightened to emphasize his point. "I won't let you."

Alister looked up at Ratchet, temporarily angered. "You won't let me? You won't let me save out entire race? Are you really a traitor?!" "If endangering the universe is your idea of saving our race, then you're the traitor!" This took him aback.

"Look around you, Alister! The clock is falling apart!" "It can take it! Its what it was built for! Now move away or die by my hand!" He struck his wrench at the younger, who block with his own. It sparked energy for a few moments, they then separated. "I'm the one doing the right thing here! You want to stop me, then you need to kill me!"

Sonic landed next to Tails when he said that. "Would it shock you if I said i'm considering it?"

It was turned into a wrench duel, Alister's double-edged vs Ratchet's one edge. The latter's looked inferior, but its the user that counts. Alister spun his Praetorian Wrench, struck Ratchet at one side, which was blocked. Tried the other side, also blocked. He then went for a downward strike, as he dodged to one side and leg sweeped him, making him trip.

Alister was about to get back up, but Ratchet charged at him by hoverboots, and headbutted him with unforseen power. He went down once more, pounding the ground when he landed. It was that historic inevitable pattern: The student has surpassed the master. When he looked back up, he saw Sonic gripping the lever. "No! What are you doing?!"

"Trying...to set...this thing...back!" He pulled harder...then it snapped off. He looked at it nervously. "Oh boy...that can't be good..." The energy was now getting violent. Tails had to grip onto the railings to keep from being blown away. "The quantum energy is becoming unstable!"

"Its not working...why isn't working?!"

"For the last time, its not a time machine, Alister! The clock isn't meant to alter time! Only keep it!" _Thirty seconds until total system failure. _

Alister watched as the boys futily tried to stop the energy flow, its already been pushed so far. "I'm so sorry..." Before they could continue their attempts, he rushed right in front of them. "No. Let me."

"What are you going to do?!"

Alister looked back them, with a stern face. "Take care of yourselves, both of you!" He rushed up to where the lever should be, and jammed his wrench into it, then pushed forward with all the might he could muster. The energy began circling around him, as he continued to push. At last, the lever clicked, and the energy crashed on him, then there was a blinding light.

When things were clear again, Ratchet, Clank, Sonic and Tails recovered. They got up to survey the damage. They saw the wrench still jammed into the space, emitting lightning. Right next to it, Alister lies on the ground, unmoving . They approached him, fearing the worst. "Alister?" Ratchet saw the picture of Alister and Kaden, picking it up.

"He did a brave thing, Ratchet. You should be proud of him." Clank said calmly. Ratchet didn't say anything, as he closed the picture, obviously in grief.

Sonic and Tails stood by, also sad by the loss. "The dude wasn't a bad guy...he just made bad choices...we can't hold that against him..." Tails was on the brink of tears, but then his head snapped upwards. _Hold on a minute! _

"Sonic! I almost forgot to show you something!" The hedgehog quickly turned to his little buddy to see what he meant. Tails rummaged something out of his namesakes, and held it out for the guys to see. Everyone gathered around it.

"Clank...do you know what this thing is?"

"Nothing in my databanks, but I'm picking up a very high energy reading from it. Tails...may I ask where you got this?" Tails looked down to it. "Its a Chaos Emerald. The Zoni found it and gave it to me. I think it may be able to help Sonic."

Clank was surprised. "The Zoni gave it to you? Then it must hold some level of importance. But how can it assist Sonic?" Tails turned to said hedgehog, who's face held the same question. "Just hold it."

He looked at Ratchet, who shrugged, then Tails, who was still holding the yellow gem. After a moments hesitation, he slowly took the emerald out of his hands. At direct contact, his eyes flashed yellow completely for a full thirty seconds. When his eyes returned to the oringinal color, his eyes were wide.

"Dude...you alright?" Ratchet asked while shaking his shoulder. Sonic looked at Ratchet, still looking like he was daydreaming. "I remember something...and I may have an idea..." Sonic walked up to Alister's body, and held his hand out. "I'm gonna help him..." Ratchet was taken aback. How was he going to do that?

Sonic began to glow yellow, like the color of the emerald he had. His aura spread onto Alister, then they both began to glow yellow. The others only watched in amazement as they watched him do this.

After a full minute, the glowing stopped, and Sonic withdrew his hand. After another couple of seconds, Alister began to cough! Ratchet jaw dropped. He's alive! He didn't waste another minute, and rushed to his side. He held him up. "Alister?!"

"R-Ratchet...? How am I...?" He didn't finish at the moment, he looked at his hand to see if this was real. Ratchet looked at Sonic unbelievably. "How...the heck...did you do that?"

Sonic shrugged. "I...I don't know. I wish I knew. For that time, I heard voices I didn't recognize...and it told me to do what I just did...its really jumbled in my head, man..." Alister stood up straight, Ratchet still helping him up. "It doesn't matter how you did it, you spared me. Despite all I've done, you spared me without a moments hesitation."

"Well, sure. A lot of people make very bad decisions, but when its people like you, I don't believe death is something you deserve. The thing you do deserve...is another chance. You helped this Tachyon guy, strike one. Almost destroyed the universe, strike two. If i'm any good at math, that calls for one more chance. All I did was give it to you."

Alister looked down to the floor, contemplating. Clank stepped up, along with Tails. "We know you are thinking about an apology." "And we also know who it goes to."

Alister then looked at Ratchet, who had expecting eyes. "Ratchet...can you forgive an old Lombax a near fatal mistake?" Everyone looked at Ratchet, it was all on him. Ratchet looked up at Alister, smiling.

"The elderly are usually the smartest ones...yet even they make just as many mistakes as us. You know I can't stay mad with you. Although...based on trying to kill us...and Sonic saving your life...you kinda owe all of us." Alister nods.

"That's fair." Ratchet remembered that he still had the picture, and handed it to Alister. "No. That's yours to keep, Ratchet. You've earned it." He said that with his hand on his shoulder. "Now I do believe that I kinda...made a mess of the place."

Tails flew up in the air. "Let's clean up!"

**_An hour later..._**

Everyone was helping clean up The Great Clock. The Zoni were also pitching in, fixing faster than everyone else. The guys were still doing an awesome job.

Ratchet stood around them all, surveying the handiwork. "Well...guess there's only one more thing to do." He plugged in one of the screens, as Orvus reappears as a hologram.

_Time keeper, restored. _

Ratchet walked away, looking back at Clank. "I'll leave you two alone. Take care of yourself, pal." He continued walking away, as the others followed them out. Tails looked back too. "Bye, Clank."

Clank looked back at them, then began to replay the transmission.

_"The Clock, much like time itself, is a gift." _Clank stopped the message, shaking his head. "I cannot stay. I am sorry, but discovering my family made me realize that I cannot leave Ratchet. Not until he finds his own. I...hope you can understand." Sigmund approached him.

"You're leaving? Energy output normal...harmonic stabilizers stable...why am I not freaking out?" Clank grabbed the Chronoscepter, and handed it to him. "I believe it is time you were promoted."

"Senior Caretaker? Thank you, sir!"

"Congrats Sigmund!" The robots turned to see Tails still there. "I never said bye to Sigmund, so I came back. But I hear that you promoted him!" Clank smiled. "My adventures still lie with Ratchet...and you. Take care, Sigmund." Clank ran off on the bridge.

Sigmund looked down to Tails, and held out his hand. Tails looked back at him, then rushed to hug him. "Bye, Sigmund. Have fun." The new Senior Caretaker smiled, and hugged him back. "You too, Tails. Take care." Tails then ran off to follow Clank.

Sigmund, now by himself, looked back at the Orvus hologram, and began to replay it again. " _The Clock, much like time itself, is a gift, and not to be tampered with. But like any father, my only wish is that my son does that which makes him feel whole. You are an intelligent and logical being, Clank, but intelligence and logic would have been wasted gifts without honor and loyalty. I am glad to see you came into those on your own. So, should you find The Clock be too small for your plans,I pray the cosmos light the way towards a future, you yourself design. And remember, the universe has a wonderful sense of humor. The trick is, learning how to take a joke_. _Hmhmhmhm! _

As that played out, Clank and Tails ran side by side, not hearing any of it.

Ratchet and Sonic sat in Aphelion, the first being sad about whats happened. He started up Aphelion, and the hatch began to close. Before it did though, Clank and Tails hopped in at the right moment. Ratchet was obviously surprised by this, but the smile of Clank's face gave him all the answer he needed. Sonic and Tails were happy for the two, and they all did a four-way high-five. They all sat back, as Ratchet was ready to launch. Hooray for Aphelion features! They took off, readybto search for more adventures, and the truth about Sonic and Tails...

Alister has launched off with them, smiling that Ratchet was happy. _My final chance of redemption...Kaden...I promise I won't fail again... _

No one seemed to notice they left Qwark behind with a hungry War Grok. Meh, I'm sure he's fine. Everything was now right with the universe. Or...so it seems...

* * *

_Visual receptors: Restored. Hearing receptors: Restored. Body movement: Normal. Power: Stable. Subject is ready to awake. _

"Good, computer. Wake him up."

_Reactivating subject. _

The subject on the table began to awake, rubbing his head. "Ohhh...my head...where am I?"

"You are on a fellow doctor's dropship, sir." The figure turned around, to see the robot butler, Lawerence. "Lawerence? When did you get here?"

"I was here for quite awhile for the time you were out, sir. By the way, someone wishes to speak with you." Confused with him, the figure looked forward, to see a familiar figure in the room with him. "Greetings, Dr. Nefarious. "I've waited some time for you to wake up. I'm Dr. Eggman."

"And I thought Ratchet's name was stupid..."

"Anyway, I only wish to discuss a very simple matter with you." Nefarious looked to his side, to see something short standing next to Eggman. "Who's the short guy with the ugly face?"

The smaller figure's head vein pulsed. "Watch your tone, trash heap! You better be lucky that we need you." Nefarious snapped his fingers. "I know that brattish temper anywhere! Is...that Tachyon?" "Oh goodie, he knows my name. That should make things easier..." That was said sarcastically. "Eggman, are you sure that we actually need him? He's a blubbering buffoon, without the blubber."

"Calm yourself, Tachyon. You don't have to _like _each other, only _cooperate. _Believe me, I don't like a lot of people. Anyway, Nefarious, I see that you have a problem with a certain Lombax and his robot partner?"

Nefarious' head was knocked for a loop when he faced off with Ratchet. Now he remembered what happened. "That's right! I've been foiled again! That squishie will pay if its the last thing I- _Lance, why must you go? Stay, with me, be happy with me! Janice, I am sorry, but it is imperative that I leave before she gets here. Who is it, Lance?! Its the one person who hates you more than those gypsie ninjas...my mother. _

Eggman and Tachyon sweatdropped. "Eggman? Did you have to leave that feature there?" "I didn't want to, that is pretty much permanent, unfortunately." Eggman walked up to Nefarious, and slapped his head.

"-do! He will pay!" Eggman, now back on course, smiled evilly, along with Tachyon. "In time, my robotic friend. In time." "Huh?" The Cragmite leader walked up to Nefarious as well.

"Dr. Nefarious...we would like to make you a mutually beneficial proposition." Eggman held his robot hand out, as he and Tachyon smiled at him. Nefarious looked at the hand, then back at them.

"Trust me..."

* * *

**"Zzzzzz...zzzzzz...zzzzzz..."**

**"Cronk! Cronk! Wake up!" **

**Cronk: Huh?! What?! What's going on?! **

**Zephyr: Part One is over, ya durn fool! Thanks to you being asleep in the actual game, we were cut out of the first ten chapters almost completely! **

**Cronk: What is it with these whippersnappers anyway? I'm too good to be in this story anyway! **

**Zephyr: Don't talk like that! The author really admired us when we made our debut! We're two of his favorite characters! So he's trying his best to fit us in this story! With help from other authors, I hope! **

**Cronk: Wait, there are other authors? I thought there was only one! **

**Zephyr: Oh for the love of...pay no mind to him, youngins'. Part Two will come soon enough. They WON'T be separate stories, they'll all be in this one right here. Also, be sure to review, follow, and favorite! Or I'm gonna...I'm gonna...uh...I don't know what I'm gonna do...**

**Talwyn: Guys, be nice. We're in the next chapter, we have to look professional.**

**Cronk and Zephyr: Sorry Talwyn...**


End file.
